Nefarious Intentions
by DreamxSequence
Summary: Sequel to Reckless Endangerment. Stephanie and Ranger have been together, but when a thread of conflicts arises, a little help from a old girlfriend and Lester, will Ranger and Stephanie defeat even the worst of situations?
1. I'm not pregnant!

Well, my loves, I'm back.

Sequel to Reckless Endangerment.

I really hope you enjoy. I've been working on this for a long time, and I'm very proud of it.

Not sure when the next chapter will be posted. Sometime between the next few days. Before next Friday, for sure.

Happy New Year, everyone :D

~kj

* * *

It had been a year since the incident with Frederick Menlo.

Ranger and I moved out of the Rangeman building and into his house. We still worked together and worked in the Rangeman building, it just involved a commute. In order for this to happen, Ranger promoted Tank. Since Tank was always there, and Ranger obviously wouldn't be, Ranger needed someone there prepared to make a decision, should something come up. Ranger admitted that he wasn't used to it, but it was worth it to him to spend more time with me and less working.

Ranger and I were still taking it one day at a time. We were in love, and we went from there. We were just working on making the relationship work. Talking when we were angry, giving each other space when needed.

Ranger and the Merry men trained me in the security business. It had been six months since they started, and I was still just catching on. It was complicated and difficult, but I was still working on it. I helped when it came to suggesting security plans to clients, but I was still learning how to install the security plan. Ranger claimed that he was taking in new business because of me, because I didn't scare customers away the way the Merry men used to.

Every morning, Ranger and I woke up and got ready for work, and drove forty minutes to work. Except this morning.

I was lying in bed, awake before the alarm clock went off. My eyes were closed, and I was completely willing to deny the existence of morning and the obligation to get up when my stomach started to churn.

I knew that feeling.

I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. I collapsed in front of the toilet just in time. I vomited until I was dry heaving, and didn't realize until I was done that Ranger was behind me, holding my hair and rubbing my back. I put the lid down on the toilet and flushed it, then leaned back against his legs.

"Babe."

"I'm fine." I lifted my arm so he would help pull me up. He did, and I pushed him out of the way so I could wash my mouth out and brush my teeth.

"Babe."

"Really. I'm fine. Still a little nauseous, but it will pass. Ranger go get me crackers?" I asked, tilting my head and giving him puppy dog eyes.

"You were completely fine last night."

"I know. Maybe it's a one time bug or something."

"Isn't your monthly visitor late?"

I turned bright red. "Ranger, don't concern yourself with my monthly visitor."

He went to the bed and got his phone from the charger. He opened it and was playing around with it when I walked back into the bedroom.

"Do I have to get my own crackers?"

"Yes. Last month you got your period on the fifth, it's the nineteenth."

"Ranger, why do you keep track of that?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"So I know when not to piss you off or give you bad news."

"Stop concerning yourself with that! Really, Ranger. I'm not that terrible during PMS."

He scoffed.

"You know that couch in the living room? I hope you like it. You'll be sleeping there for awhile." I assured him before going down to the kitchen and getting some crackers.

I went back upstairs and took a shower and got ready for work as usual while Ranger took a shower. I went back down to the kitchen and tried to eat toast with peanut butter spread over it, and it went down fine, but the nausea remained.

"How do you feel?" Ranger asked when he was ready for work.

"Don't talk to me, I hate you." I checked my pockets to make sure I had my cell phone.

Ranger leaned against the kitchen counter and pulled me into his arms. "Babe, you have to admit, even for you, it's late."

"But it's impossible. You always use protection."

"Well…"

"Well what?!"

"There was that time in my office…"

I could my face turning bright red with the memory of that.

"I'm just stressed. Sometimes that makes it stop."

Ranger kissed my forehead and took my hand and lead me to the front door. He picked a pair of keys out of the dish while I grabbed my jacket. We walked out to the truck and started to drive to work.

"You're going to the doctor tomorrow, right? You should-"

"Ranger, I'm not pregnant."

We were silent for a lot of the way to work. I was thinking, and he was in his usual Ranger zone.

What if I was pregnant? What would he do? I don't think he would leave me, but I don't think he would react well. He always said that he didn't want any more children. So what if I am pregnant? What would I do? Abortion is out of the question, but could I be a good mother?

"Ranger, what if I am pregnant?" I asked, turning towards him.

"Babe." He glanced my way, then turned back to the road.

"No, really. I want to know. If I am pregnant, how would you feel? Why are you so concerned with it?"

"So we can find out what color to paint the bedroom next door." He said in a soft voice.

Tears formed in my eyes. My heart swelled with happiness and love. This man sitting next to me was my match in every way, that much I already knew. Just now, he gave me so much confidence in our relationship, just the fact of knowing that nothing would change, should I become pregnant. To be honest, I don't really want children, I never really thought about them, and it wouldn't go over well with my job to be pregnant, but knowing that Ranger would be there in that way, it made my heart happy.

"I'm not pregnant." I told him, convinced.

"Babe."

We glanced at each other and I blushed slightly and smiled. I took Ranger's hand off the consol and kissed it lightly, then held it in my lap.

"Still not pregnant." I told him.

"Anything is possible."

"No. It's not possible. Are you aware of my job? It really isn't possible."

"It's not possible, or you don't want it to be possible?"

"Both. Wait. I don't know. Go away. Stop confusing me. It's too early in the morning."

"Wouldn't you want a little Stephanie running around?" He asked, laughing, as he pulled into the Rangeman garage.

I thought about that for a minute. "Um. No. Have you met me?"

"Of course."

"So a little kid running around with a gun, always losing her handcuffs, rolling around in garbage, eating nothing remotely healthy. Also, out of control and crazy. Sounds like a bad idea."

"But think of the eyes that kid would have." He parked and turned the truck off. He reached over and caressed my cheek for a moment before getting out of the truck. He came around to my side of the truck and opened the door for me. I slid out and he wrapped his arm around me as we walked to the elevator.

Up in the control room, Tank and Lester were watching the screens, while several other merry men were in front of computers or sitting at desks.

"What's the plan today, boss?" Tank asked, leaning back in the chair.

"I need Stephanie today to help set up a new client with a plan."

"Oh. That's not going to work. I need Bombshell while I install a specific plan she set up." Lester hesitated slightly to say, not wanting to argue with Ranger.

"Ranger, you've been able to set up plans without me." I told him. "I really need to help Lester with this. New client, and they're paying top dollar for this plan, we have to make sure it's done right."

"Bombshell, you're so popular." Tank grinned.

"Guys, we can work it out. Ranger, what time is the appointment?"

"Noon."

"Okay, well, it's eight. Lester and I can go over now and start, I'll come back for noon, then go back afterwards and fix everything that Lester screwed up while I was gone."

Lester scoffed and Tank laughed.

"You two get going." Ranger squeezed my hand lightly, then went into his office. Lester got ready to go, and I went into Ranger's office. He was sitting at his desk with an open folder in front of him.

"Hi." I said, closing the door behind me as I walked in. He looked up as I walked around his desk and pushed his chair so he wasn't pulled into the desk. I sat on his lap and kissed his cheek.

"Babe." He put his hand behind my head and kissed me.

I pulled away before it got too heated. "You know, this is how the office incident started."

"You really should-"

"I'm not pregnant!"


	2. Lester, I'm SO not discussing Aunt Flo!

WOW!

I love all of you guys so much! The reviews meant the world to me!

Glad everyone likes it so far. Hope you continue to like it.

I wrote this all out this morning for you guys because you're beautiful and wonderful :D

~kj

* * *

Lester and I drove together to the client's home. Their house was empty, as they hadn't moved in yet. They wanted everything secure before they moved in and spent the night. All passwords and timers had been discussed previously, so they expected everything to appear exactly as it had in the contract.

Lester got to work on the technical part of the security system, while I went along with him and told him exactly how everything would need to be set up. It was a slow process, but it was a fun job, Lester and I got to spend the day together talking.

"So, what's new Bombshell? Any plans to blow up a car?"

"Lester, how many times do I have to tell you? I never plan to blow up a car, it just happens."

"Sure, Bombshell, and Santa Claus is real."

"Damn straight, don't you dare try to say otherwise."

"So, what's new?"

"I don't know. Nothing really. Ranger thinks I'm pregnant."

"Well, are you?"

"No. I'd know if I was pregnant. Just because I feel sick one morning doesn't mean that I'm pregnant."

"Is that all he's going off?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Aunt Flo is late?"

"Lester. I am SO not going to discuss Aunt Flo with you."

"It's a fact of life. Face it. You have Bat-baby growing inside you."

"Lester, really. I'm not pregnant. I'm not having a baby."

"Don't worry, it's not just any baby. It's Ranger's baby."

"Of course it would be Ranger's baby."

"Jeez. Can you imagine what would happen if you were pregnant? Ranger would probably put you on bed rest."

"Lester. Shut up. Lets talk about your love life."

"What love life?"

"Exactly."

At noon, I left Lester alone at the house and drove back to Rangeman. I was a few minutes late for the meeting, but I figured that no one would mind. I walked into the conference room to see Ranger across the table from a middle aged couple.

"This is my associate, Stephanie. She will be personalizing the plan to fit your needs."

"Hi, I'm sorry for my tardiness, I was setting up a system across town." I sat down next to Ranger and he slid a folder over to me. I opened it and looked over the paperwork while Ranger and the couple discussed the details, like if they forgot their passwords or someone actually broke into their house.

"Any more questions?" Ranger asked. The couple shook their heads. "Okay, so at this point, Stephanie will take over. If you need anything, I'll be in my office," he stood, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently.

"So, what kind of protection are you interested in?" I asked.

"We're not really sure, what are some of the options?" The man asked.

"We have endless possibilities. There are standard options, like sensors on the doors and windows when the alarm is set, so if someone breaks in while you're not home or sleeping. There are options like pressure sensors outside windows or around your yard when the alarm is set. You can get heat detectors or motion detectors. Let me ask you a question, do you have any pets?"

"No, no pets."

"Well, that's good. Having pets makes motion and head detectors difficult, or even pressure detectors outside, if they go outside."

"I think we mostly want a basic plan. We want our fence automated to open only for us, then a control on the inside of the house and an intercom, so if anyone else drives up, we can see who it is, and decide whether to open the gate for them or not."

"Okay, we can do that. We can give you remotes that will open it for you when you drive up, or we can install that in your car, either on the steering wheel or around the area with the radio. The problem with that one is, if you get a new car, there's a fee to install the steering wheel controller there."

"So lets go with remotes."

The couple, the Thompson's, and I hammered out the rest of the details of their security plan, then we dismissed the meeting. I went into Ranger's office to drop off the paperwork. He was on the phone when I walked in, so I put the folder on the edge of his desk and blew him a kiss as I left.

I drove back to Lester and finished the job. We drove back to Rangeman, took a long lunch break, and at that point, Ranger was ready to go home for the day.

The next day, Ranger left without me because of my doctor's appointment. I slept in until nine, then got up to start my day. When I got out to the driveway, I realized that he took the Turbo. The fun car.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my number one.

"Yo." He answered his phone.

"Why did you take the Turbo?"

"So you could take the truck."

"But I wanted to drive the turbo!"

"It's too fast. It's not safe enough."

"Not safe enough? I've been driving that car for almost a year."

"I just thought that it would be better if you drove something bigger with more protection now that-"

"I'm not pregnant!" I hung up and got into the truck. My appointment was at eleven, and it was ten-thirty.

I drove to Rangeman and parked the truck. I got into the Turbo and drove to the doctors office, where they were ready for me right away.

I went in and got into the gown and waited less than a minute for the doctor.

"Well, hello, Ms. Plum." She greeted me as she walked in. She sat at the barstool with her clipboard. "How are you today?"

"I'm great. Look, I need a pregnancy test. Whatever is most accurate."

"We could do a urine test, blood test, or the test with the machine, which involves-"

"Yeah, I know what it is. Can we do all of them? I need this to be as accurate as possible."

"Okay, lets do the physical, then I'll send you for the tests."

She checked my blood pressure and eyes and teeth and ears, my lungs and my neck. I was healthy, and she let me get dressed and sent me to down to the test room.

They checked for pregnancy with the machine, and found nothing.

"Does this mean I'm not pregnant?" I asked.

"Not necessarily, it might just mean that it's a little too early in the pregnancy to see anything. The urine or blood sample might be able to better confirm it."

I did the urine and blood sample and was assured that I would be called with the results within one business day.

When I walked back out to the parking lot, I didn't see the Turbo. Where I had parked it was the truck.

I pulled out my cell phone.

"I want the turbo!"

"Babe, I think-"

"No, you don't. I'm not pregnant, let me drive what I want."

"You got tests?"

"I'm waiting for the result of two."

"Then you never know."

"Oh, but I do."

"Fine, just come to work. I won't switch cars on you again."

I drove to work and burst into Ranger's office, walking past everyone and their greetings.

"Did you really drive all the way to the doctors office, drop off the truck, and drive the turbo back here?"

"No, of course not."

I glared at him.

"Tank did."

"I'm going to kill you."

"Babe."

"You know what? You play with fire, you're going to get burned."

"Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

"I hate you."

"Liar."

"Yeah, so?"

He chuckled.

"Well, I hope you know, I don't feel like working today, so I'm going to distract everyone else."

I walked out of Ranger's office and went into the control room. I sat around all day, keeping an eye on my phone, in case the office called back today.

When Ranger was done for the day, we left and drove home.

The next morning, I awoke to Ranger shaking me.

"Babe, we have to go now. There was a alarm breach at one of our client's houses, and it's closer to us than anyone at Rangeman."

I got up and got dressed quickly. I brushed my teeth and ran down to the truck, where Ranger was already waiting.

In all the hurry, I forgot my cell phone sitting on the nightstand, plugged into the charger.


	3. Little, Sexy, Bitch

OH MY GOSH.

I woke up to 18 emails from reviews and adds from this story.

I love you all sooo much. I'm going to send Ranger to your house for your own enjoyment.

Due to some of the reviews, I'm going to be changing my outline for the story a little, so if this breaks your heart, it'll get better.

~kj

* * *

Ranger and I drove quickly down the street, to the person's house.

"You set up this system." He told me the background while we drove. "I don't know if you remember, but the Stevens family."

"Oh! Was that the one with the really fat wife and skinny husband?"

"Yes."

"They were so picky."

"I know."

"So, what happened? Alarm went off?"

"Yeah, one of their outside pressure sensors went off, and we were alerted."

Ranger and I pulled up to their house and parked on the street and simply walked through the gate. We carefully walked around the side of the house, trying to find where the sensor went off.

There was a rustle in the bushed, and Ranger and I knelt down simultaneously. We crept to the rustling, Ranger with his gun out and aimed. We got closer to the house, then suddenly, someone's head popped up and started moving towards us.

Ranger stood, holding his gun up. "Hold it." He told him.

The guy screamed and put his hands up. "Please don't kill me, do you want my wallet?"

"Come with me." Ranger grabbed the guy by the collar and dragged him to the door. He rang the doorbell and the husband opened the door.

"Is everything alright? Someone from Rangeman called and said to stay inside until we saw you."

"Do you know him?" Ranger asked, referring to the guy.

"Yes, he's our gardener."

"Okay. Your alarm was set, so when he was working near the house, we got a alert that meant that your alarm was going off. Next time, turn your alarm off when he's working."

"Okay, will do."

Ranger and I left and drove back to our house. We took our showers and got properly ready for work. I checked my phone, but there were no missed calls or messages. I made sure to put the phone in my pocket before Ranger and I went to work.

"Why do you keep checking your phone?" Ranger asked while we were driving to work.

"I'm waiting for the doctor's office to call with the results."

"When are they supposed to get back to you?"

"They said one business day."

"There's someone new who is going to be starting. Very experienced with the security business and knows all of the latest technology. We're going to have sort of a welcoming dinner tonight with them and a few of the guys. Just so you know ahead of time."

"As long as you're cooking."

Ranger laughed.

We arrived at work, and Ranger put me on monitors. I sat all day in front of my phone, but no call arrived. Finally, when Ranger was ready to go home, I called the doctor's office myself.

"We usually only call when the result is positive." The nurse told me. "When it's negative, we send written notification. The lab put the results in your file though, and they came back negative, but the thing is with pregnancy, the hormones are slightly different, and may not show up until a little later, so it may not be one hundred percent accurate, but there is a very high probability that you are not pregnant."

"Thank you!" I hung up with her and Ranger and I went home.

I took another shower and got ready for the dinner. When I got out of the shower, I got dressed in a black dress and applied a coat of mascara. I glared at my hair, but nothing happened.

I got a strange feeling, and got excited as soon as I realized what it was. I sat on the toilet to check, sure enough, I got my period!

I took care of everything, then ran downstairs, where Ranger was preparing dinner.

"Ranger! I got my peri….od." I was halfway through the sentence when I got down the stairs, realizing that there were people standing in the dining room.

Ranger was in the back of the room, grinning at me.

I was probably turning seven shades of red when I walked through the room of the merry men laughing at me. I pulled Ranger by the shirt into the kitchen and closed the door.

"Ranger, darling," I said in a slightly irritated tone. "You didn't tell me anyone was here."

He chuckled and pulled me into his arms and kissed me. "You got your period?"

"Yes. I'm not pregnant, just like I told you."

"Oh." He took a deep breathe, almost sighed.

"Ranger, oh my gosh. Are you disappointed?"

"A little. When I started to think about it, I was thinking about all the positive things."

"Oh Ranger, I think it's best. It's not the best timing right now."

He kissed my forehead. "It's okay. I'm fine. Come on, lets get back to the party. The guest of honor hasn't arrived yet."

"We don't throw a party for anyone else, why this person?"

"Old friend."

We went back to the dinner party. I served drinks and Ranger put out appetizers. Ranger had dinner completely ready when the doorbell rang. He pulled me along with him and opened the door.

His new associate was definitely not a guy. She was definitely a woman. A slim, sexy, pretty woman. Her blonde hair was curled to perfection, in contrast to my crazy tendrils. She was wearing a flattering brown dress that showed off her assets, and _did _she have assets. Her green eyes were standing out against her perfect complexion. She had long, shapely legs and a very slim figure.

I hated her.

"Carlos!" She purred. "It's been so long!" She embraced him tightly.

_Get your hands off my man._

I tried to push the mean thoughts out of my head and be nice. She pulled away from Ranger and touched his face.

"You haven't changed a bit." She told him.

"What about you? You look amazing." He told her.

I cleared my throat to break up their little love circle.

"Oh, please, come in. Brittany Peterson, this is my Stephanie. Stephanie, this is Brittany."

I faked a smile and shook her hand.

"Stephanie, it's so nice to meet you. I've heard so many wonderful things about you."

"That's funny. I haven't heard a thing about you. Ever. But it's great to meet you. If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to serving drinks."

I went to the bar and poured a shot of tequila and drank it quickly.

Lester was standing in front of me, watching.

"It's going to be a long night." I assured him.

"Hate her already?" He asked.

"With a burning passion."

At dinner, Ranger sat at the head of the table, and I sat next to him. Unfortunately, Brittany was sitting on his other side. While we ate, they were absorbed in conversation. Brittany kept breaking out in fits of laughter with Ranger. I turned to Lester and rolled my eyes.

He handed me his cup of wine, as I had already chugged my own.

Hours later, everyone except Brittany had left. She and Ranger were deep in conversation on the couch, and I was well on my way to finishing the tequila bottle.

"I should probably get going." She finally said, standing up. "I have to get to work early tomorrow." They laughed again. He walked her to the door, she hugged him again, then kissed him. On the lips. It was a light, less than a second kiss, but it still bothered me.

"Goodbye, Stephanie." She called to me and I waved just as the door closed behind her.

"Lets go to bed." Ranger put his arm around me and helped me up the stairs. We got ready for bed. I was in the bathroom, washing my face and brushing my teeth while he was on the bed, talking about Brittany.

"It's been so long since I've seen her, it was great catching up. So much has changed. Last time I saw her, we were breaking up because she was moving away."

"Breaking up?" I asked suddenly.

"Yeah. We were together for awhile, but she moved across the country."

"You dated."

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Babe, why does it matter?" I went into the bedroom and changed into my pajamas.

"Uh, because there was a sexy little thing in my house tonight, she was all over you, and she kissed you, and now we're going to be working with her."

"Babe, the kiss meant nothing. She and I go far back, it was just a friendly gesture."

"Okay, so you wouldn't mind if I greeted Joe like that every time I saw him?"

"That's completely different-"

"No, it's not. Joe and I go way back. I've known him for as long as I can remember."

I laid down in bed and got under the covers. I turned my light out and turned away from Ranger.

"Alright, I guess I see your point. If it makes you feel better, I won't let her kiss me again."

"Mhm."

I felt Ranger shift so he could hold me.

"Stay on your own side." I told him harshly.


	4. Fight Bitch with Bitch

Hey Guys!

I'm going to post the next few chapters tonight because I love you guys so much!!

Love the reviews and the hundreds of emails I'm getting.

Also, it's Sunday, and no one likes Sundays, so here's a little fiction to make it better!

~kj

* * *

A week later, I was going crazy. Brittany was supposed to be training under me in Rangeman, so I was around her all day. Ranger never stopped talking about how impressed he was with her, or how much she changed over the years, or what a great job she was doing or how nice she was, or how she was really going to help the company.

I had started to drive to work early and alone, so I could exercise to take my mind off of Brittany and Ranger.

I was running on the treadmill, thinking about how much I hated her. How she was always flirting with Ranger, how she was skinny and perfect and she knew it. How every time she and Ranger were together, she was touching him in some way. She either had her hand on his arm or his leg casually, or she would put her hand over his while they were sitting and talking.

"Bombshell." Lester nodded to me as he walked passed me to the punching bag.

"Pretend it's Brittany and hit it a few times for me, would you?" I asked.

He laughed. "Jealousy isn't a good look for you."

"I can't help it! I hate her. She's all over him."

"Do you trust him?"

"Of course I trust him, I just don't trust her."

"That's all you can do. He wouldn't do anything to hurt you. She sometimes comes in here in the morning, so watch what you say."

"Tell me if she does." My back was to the entrance of the gym, so I couldn't see when someone walked in or out.

"Will do."

"I don't know why he brought her here. Why do I have to train her if she knows what she's doing?"

"She knows the security business, she has to get to know ours in particular, to see how we work."

I groaned and got off the treadmill.

"Thanks Lester, you were absolutely no help."

"Hey, I'm on your side. Remember that when you need someone to hold you back."

"I will."

I showered and got ready for work as usual. I went up to the control room a little early, to see that Tank was already there, sitting in front of the monitors.

"I have to go to the bonds office and get the files." Tank said, getting up.

"Wait. Let me go. I haven't seen the girls in forever and I need to get away from Brittany for awhile."

"Why?"

"I hate her."

"What did she do to you?"

"Hit on Ranger. Be perfect."

Tank laughed as I got in the elevator. I drove to the bonds office and went in to see Lula eating donuts and Connie filing her nails.

"Steph!" They said at the same time, looking up at me.

"Hey guys." I slumped on the couch with Lula.

"Haven't seen you in forever, what's new?" Connie asked.

"This girl started at work, and I hate her because she's all over Ranger."

"She's got some nerve." Connie said.

"Why is she messing with your man?" Lula asked.

I sighed. "We all know why, I just hate her for it."

"Ranger loves you, he wouldn't leave you for some hoe." Lula said, resolute.

"I know, I'm just worried that she's going to do something."

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Steph. You two have been going for over a year. That's nothing casual."

"Yeah, I know you're right. It's just hard."

I picked up the files and drove back to Rangeman. When I got there, a ton of people were collecting in the control room.

"What's going on?" I asked one of the merry men in the back of the crowd, near the elevator where I came in.

"I guess a bunch of money went missing. Ranger is pissed."

"What? How? Who?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. I guess it was two thousand dollars, sometime this morning."

"Holy shit."

I pushed through the crowd, and for the most part, people moved once they realized it was me trying to get through. Tank was sitting at a computer while on the phone, and Ranger was sitting next to him.

Ranger saw me and brightened up slightly. He extended and hand to me, I took it, and he pulled me into his lap. He kissed me lightly.

"What happened?"

"Tank was checking an account this morning and saw that two thousand dollars had been taken out. It was sometime this morning."

"Really?"

"Yeah, did you get up early this morning?"

"Yeah, I came here to work out, then ran to the bonds office for Tank." I held up the files.

"Was anyone else here when you got here?" Ranger asked, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Lester was in the gym with me for awhile, other than that, I only saw Tank."

"We don't know how it happened. Someone could have accessed this account from anywhere, but it had to be someone who works here or who previously worked here."

"I'm sorry Ranger, but I know you'll figure out what happened."

"I hope so. Okay, everyone, back to work." He called out into the crowd.

Everyone started to scatter, and five minutes later, the control room was cleared and organized. I was still sitting on Ranger and Tank was still on the phone and on the laptop set up at the desk. Ranger stood up and pulled me with him into his office and closed the door.

"How is the training with Brittany going?" He asked.

"Well, she catches on quickly." Unfortunately.

"Good. I'm going to take her today with me. She'll tell me what to do while I'm setting up the plan, to see if she really understands it. Like an evaluation."

"Oh, good. What house?"

"The Thompson's."

"What? That's the one that you and I worked on."

"I know. I think it's simple enough for her to-"

"But I worked on that one. That was one of my accounts. I know what they want and how they want it done. She doesn't know them at all. Can't you put her on one of the ones she was there for?"

"No, I really want to see how she's progressing. It'll give you an afternoon to yourself."

I could swear my eye was going to start twitching.

"Ranger, she doesn't know those people at all. If you went somewhere and paid for a service and explained exactly what you wanted to someone, would you feel comfortable knowing that someone else took over their work?"

"Stephanie, I think you're overreacting."

"I'm overreacting? Don't even go there. If you're at a restaurant and you specify what you want on the menu to your waiter, and then your waiter leaves and you get a new one, wouldn't you worry that you wouldn't get exactly what you wanted?"

"Well, sure. I guess."

"And for that matter, if you were the waiter and you were helping these people get exactly what they want, then your boss comes along and says that someone else is going to take your place, how would you feel?"

"Stephanie-"

"That's how you're making me feel."

"Are you just upset that Brittany is going to be there?"

"Of course I'm upset because she's going to be there. You know how I feel about her."

"I know that it bothers you that we used to date-"

"Or that she's always all over you."

"Stephanie, just relax. It's nothing personal."

"Fine." I left the office, completely furious. As I walked out, Brittany walked passed me into Ranger's office.

"Hi, Stephanie." She said in a two-faced tone.

I went and sat in one of the empty desks in the control room. I pulled out my cell phone and called Lester.

"I hate her." I said as soon as the ringing stopped.

"What happened now?"

"Ranger is replacing her with me while he sets up the security in one of the houses that I organized. I made the freaking security plan, but she gets to be there to put it together."

"Bombshell. Go to the shooting area and pretend that you're shooting at her. I'll see you later."

I hung up and did exactly as he suggested. I shot at her for all I was worth. Not very much, but I still burned off some steam while firing the gun.

I went back to the control room around five, when Ranger usually decided to leave. Lester was sitting at the monitors, and the room was empty except for Lester.

"Hey, Lester, have you seen Ranger?" I asked, sitting in the second monitor chair.

"Nope, I think he's still out on that house. Didn't you drive here separately today?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to go home alone."

"I'm going to go do a few searches." He got up and walked into one of the cubicles in the corner of the room. I stared at the screens for awhile, in a sort of daze. Then Ranger's truck pulled into the garage and he and Brittany got out. They were smiling and laughing as they walked to the elevator. Once inside, she leaned against the back of the elevator in a sexy, "come and get me" sort of pose.

The elevator stopped at the control room floor and Ranger and Brittany walked out. Ranger squeezed my shoulder on his way by, but I moved away from his touch.

"Stephanie? I'm going to just make a call, then I'll be ready to go, okay? Why are you still here?"

"Oh, I uh promised Lester I'd watch everything until he got back."

"Okay." Ranger walked towards his office. "Oh, Brittany, great job today." He smiled at her, then went into her office. Brittany sat in the chair next to mine, though I wished she wouldn't.

"I guess I'm doing a pretty good job." She said, smugly.

"Look, Brittany, I-"

"No, you look Stephanie." She interrupted in a cold, harsh tone. "You may be with Ranger, but not for long. I didn't come here to work, I came here to get Ranger back. You don't stand a chance against me, so just stand down."

"And if I don't?" I asked, angry.

"I'll destroy you. This building will become a living hell for you."

"Ranger and I have something that you can't destroy. Even if you try, I'll fight for what I want. And I'll win." I told her, standing up.

"I'd love to see you try. We'll see how confident you are when I have everything you once had."

She walked out of the control room.

I was shocked and angry, and I wished that someone had heard that.

_Lester._

I ran over to the cubical and saw him sitting there, the computer in front of him turned off.

"Tell me you heard that."

"I heard that. All this time I just thought you were paranoid."

"Lester, what am I going to do?"

"Fight bitch with bitch."


	5. Make Love to Me

Next Chapter!

Enjoy.

I promise, it gets better. I'm writing the ending as we speak :D

Well, as you read...

Anywayy.

~kj

* * *

Brittany had been around for a week. One week. Seven days. That's one hundred and sixty-eight hours, ten thousand and eighty minutes, and six hundred and four thousand-eight hundred seconds.

In that short amount of time, I met her, realized that I hated her, and then she went all two faced and told me she was going to steal Ranger from me. How was it possible that she got under my skin so deeply in only a week? Or made me paranoid to the point of questioning my trust in Ranger, just because I didn't trust a single hair on her perfect head? How is it possible that after a week, I seriously worry about my future relationship with Ranger? Or that after only a week, I can't even talk to him about everything, because she's involved in all of my worries and concerns, and he won't think anything negative of her?

If she could do all that in one week, what could she do in two?

"Come down to my apartment, and we'll have drinks and discuss her." Lester told me.

"Okay."

Ranger came out of his office a moment later and stopped across from where I was standing at Lester's cubical.

"Lester, you're free to go. Tank is on his way. Stephanie, are you coming home?"

"No, Lester and I have plans."

Of course, I thought about it after I said it, and after I thought about that statement, I realized how terrible it sounded.

"Plans with Lester?" Ranger looked towards Lester, his eyes practically slicing Lester in half. If looks could kill…

"We have to finish paperwork for one of the clients." Lester said, holding up a file.

"Oh. Okay. See you later, babe." He walked to the elevator and disappeared.

"Is it terrible that we just lied to Ranger?" I asked.

"No, you're just terrible _at _it."

Lester and I went down to his Rangeman apartment. We had beers and discussed what I should do about Brittany.

"All you need to do is fight bitch with bitch. If she pushes you, push back. She has exposed her true intentions and true side to you, so you need to fight that for all you're worth. If you don't want to lose him, you have to forget the nice, give everyone a chance, try to stay out of the way attitude. You need to get down in there, you need to be mean and nasty and get every detail. You need to get involved. Don't sit around and wait for something to happen, do something before it happens. And you need to talk to Ranger. It might not be easy, but he loves you. He wants to make you happy, and part of that is letting him know what doesn't make you happy."

I thought about what Lester said as I walked into the house. It was eight in the evening. I had eaten at Lester's house, so I skipped the leftover chicken in the fridge and went right up to our bedroom. I changed into pajamas and brushed my teeth. I sat on the bed gently, and looked at Ranger's empty side of the bed. The room was dark, I didn't have any lights on. The bed was made, and I definitely wasn't ready for sleep yet. I didn't quite know what to do.

Then, I started to cry.

Part of it was the beer that I had had at Lester's house. The other part was the fear that I would lose Ranger to some slut. The anger that I felt when I realized that it was silly, that he wouldn't leave me for just anyone. The doubt that maybe she wasn't _just anyone _or the doubt in the confidence in the steadiness of our relationship. All I know is that I don't want to lose Ranger, and if I did, I might never recover.

"Hey," Ranger said casually as he walked into the bedroom. He looked like he was headed towards the closet when he did a double-take and rushed to my side.

"Stephanie? What's wrong? Are you okay? Why are you crying?" He sat next to me and held me close. He put his hands on my face and gentled brushed the tears away with his thumbs.

I looked down and put my hands on his arms. I needed his arms around me, I needed his attention, and I needed him to love me.

"Make love to me." I said lightly, my voice breaking.

"What?" He asked, lifting my chin.

"Make love to me." I said clearly.

Ranger kissed me lightly, as if afraid I would break. I pressed into the kiss and deepened it. Our lips moved together seamlessly as Ranger and I moved on the bed, so we were lying in the middle and he was on top of me, and I was under him. He used his arms to lift himself up slightly, so his weight wasn't fully on me.

Ranger's hands moved towards the hem of my loose shirt. He inched it up to my chest, then broke the kiss to gently pull the shirt over my head. I extended my arms to make it easier. I fumbled to get his shirt over his head, then unbuttoned his pants and pushed them down as far as I could. Ranger stood for a moment beside the bed and stepped completely out of his pants. He was going commando today.

He moved back onto the bed and kissed my lips, then nibbled lightly on my skin, down to my shoulder. He unsnapped my bra and pulled it off of my arms and let it join the rest of the clothes on the floor. He kissed my breasts and down to my belly button. He moved slightly off the bed and pulled my sweat pants off and then pulled my utterly soaked panties off, as well.

He moved back on top. I wrapped my legs around him and he moved my arms so they were pinned beside my head. He enlaced our fingers and stared intensely into my eyes as he pushed inside.

It was intense, it was deep. It was as if we were molding our souls, our very beings together. It was passionate and loving. The real epitome of love making.

The pressure was building and building, and when I finally shattered, it came with tears.

I moved under the covers and pressed my face into the pillow, unable to stop myself from crying. Ranger wrapped an arm around me.

"Stephanie? Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"No, no. I'm sorry." I sobbed, my voice and breath completely uneven. I was sobbing to the point where I was gasping for air, just because breathing was becoming increasingly difficult.

"Stephanie, something is wrong. Please, tell me?"

He was playing unfairly. He said please.

"I just hate her."

"Who?"

"Brittany." He named tasted like bile in my mouth.

"Stephanie-"

"No." I turned towards him, so our bodies were pressed together through the sheet. "Ranger, she wants you. She even told me that she wants you. I'm so-"

"Now it's mine turn to interrupt you," he said gently, kissing my forehead. "I love you." He punctured each word with a kiss on my face. "I only love you. Do you think I don't know when a woman desires me? I know she does, but I don't feel that way about her. She's going to be really good for the company, especially with our recent set back. Even though it wasn't even scratching the air above the surface on that account, it was the fact of that matter. She really knows the business well."

"You knew that she wanted you, and you wouldn't listen when I told you that it bothered me?"

"Steph-"

"No, really. You knew? Why didn't you tell me? A quick, 'Stephanie, I know you think that Brittany wants me, and she does, but I don't want her,' was too much trouble?"

"Stephanie." He sighed.

"What if she did something, would you tell me? Or if she said something?"

"Would you trust me?"

"I trust you, it's her I don't trust."

"Stephanie, you have to trust me. If she did something or said something, I would tell you if I thought it was important."

"What if it was something that I would be interested in? Or something that you knew would make me mad or upset or sad or just hate her? Don't I have a right to know that, too? I can't believe you just don't seem to understand."

"Stephanie, you're getting upset over nothing! Stop being so jealous. I know it bothers you, but it's just something that you have to get over. If you would try and get along with Brittany-"

"Bye."

I got out of the bed and started to put pajamas back on.

"Stephanie, where are you going?"

"Guest bedroom. I'm so done with this for tonight."

"You started the conversation!"

"Because I was crying! I'm sorry if the thought of losing you scares me, and I have the absolute fear of you leaving me for someone else and getting an unbearable broken, but that's the way it is! Ranger, she wants you. You two go way back. She's sexy and skinny and gorgeous, she knows what she's doing, she hates me, and she wants you."

I was working myself up again.

Ranger sat up in bed and put his face in his hands.

"Stephanie, I understand. I just don't know how to explain how ridiculous your fear is. I love you, I've been with you longer by choice than I've been with anyone else, including Brittany. The thought of leaving you is equivalent to the idea of you leaving me for a family member. Please, come back to bed."

He was playing unfairly again.

I sighed and got back into bed. Ranger held me tightly and kissed my neck or shoulder every so often until I fell asleep in his arms.


	6. I found Waldo

And another one :D

Hope you enjoy!

~kj

* * *

The next day was Saturday, which I had off of work. I woke up briefly when I heard the water for Ranger's shower running, and when he kissed me lightly before he left for work.

I slept in until ten, then woke up and got up. I made coffee and took a long shower. I sat around in a robe for awhile and drank my coffee before I dried my hair and body and got dressed.

I sat in the kitchen for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with my day before I pulled out my cell phone.

"Hello?" Lula chirped over the phone.

"Hey, Lula."

"Steph! How's that bitch?"

"I so don't want to talk about it. Want to go shopping today?"

"Oh sure."

"Are you busy?"

"Nope, Connie here was just complaining about the filing, so she can do it herself."

I heard Connie protesting in the background.

"Okay, I'll pick you up in a little while."

We hung up and I got in the Porsche and drove the half hour to the bonds office. I didn't even have a chance to turn the car off before Lula ran to the passenger door and got in.

"So, shopping." She said, buckling her seat belt. I pulled the car onto the road and drove towards the mall.

"Shopping." I confirmed.

"Okay, so tell me. What's up with that bitch?"

"I just hate her. Ranger doesn't understand. I wish I could make him understand."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Well, Lester says that-"

"Lester says? Since when do you listen to Lester?"

"Since he was the only one around there who saw how Brittany could actually be."

"So now you're buddies?"

"Kind of. I can talk to him about things I can't talk to Ranger about."

"Girl, are you going to get it on with-"

"Lula!" I gasped at the words about to come out of her mouth as I parked at the mall.

"I'm just saying."

I turned to her in her bright orange spandex shirt and bright green spandex pants. "Lula, I'm so not anything with Lester, except friends."

"Okay okay. No need to bite my head off. Now come on, lets go shopping."

We went inside and walked around for awhile, stopping in random stores and trying on dresses and clothes that we knew we would never buy. It was as if we were teenagers again, looking for some fun and something to do, but the afternoon was a nice escape.

One of the last stores that Lula and I went into was a small, new little store near one of the big department stores. It was tucked away in a corner, barely noticeable.

Lula and I went inside "Alicia's Corner," ironically enough, and looked around. The store was white and pink, and full of a little of everything. There were some belts, scarves, shirts, shoes, and jewelry. Lula went straight towards the belts, and I started to look at the shoes.

Then, I saw them. They were perfect. They were black boots that were in a knitted style. They had buttons up and down the sides, and they were beyond the cutest things I've ever seen in my life.

I grabbed the pair in my size and slid them on. They were warm and comfortable and fit like a dream. I tucked my pants into them and found the mirror on the wall of the store and spun around. They looked great, too.

"Lula!" I called.

"What?"

"What do you think of these boots?"

"It's April."

"I know, but they're so cute, and I could wear them when it gets colder."

"They're cute, but it's April."

"But I'll never love a pair of shoes as much. And this way, I'll already have a pair of winter books. And they're so inexpensive! And who knows if the store will still have them then. I'm going to get them."

"Okay, what do you think of this belt?"

Lula put on a neon blue leopard print belt. It was elastic and went around her waist. The buckle was pulled so dangerously tight I was afraid it was going to snap off and hit me in the head.

"What size is that?" I asked.

"Small. Do you think I should go extra small?"

"No, you know what? I think that one works. In case you wear a jacket underneath."

I went back to where the shoes were, took the boots off, put my sneakers back on and put the boots back in the box. I went up to the counter, where a sweet older lady was sitting.

Then I saw the sign. "Cash only."

"Excuse me," I asked her, "Cash only?"

"Yes, I am so sorry dear. It's just more convenient for the store."

"Oh no, I only have my card." I groaned.

"I'll tell you what, I'll hold these here for you, you can go take out cash, and I'll give these to you for half off."

_Score!_

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I'll be right back. Lula, I'm going to run and get cash!" I told her.

The atm was located at the other end of the mall. There were crowds of people in the mall because it was Saturday, the busiest day of the week. I slowly made my way through the hoards of people. It took almost a half hour to just get all the way to the atm.

I pulled my card out of my wallet and put it into the machine. I entered my pin number and the screen showed my available balance.

But there was a problem.

It was about two thousand dollars more than I was expecting. Than I knew would be in there.

Why did I have two thousand dollars extra? There's a possibility that I made a mistake when balancing my checkbook, but by two thousand dollars? The most I've ever been off is two hundred! There's no way two thousand dollars just appeared overnight.

Unless it disappeared from somewhere else.

I got my card and returned to the store. I pulled Lula out, and apologized to the sweet lady, explaining that something had come up. I dropped Lula off at the bonds office, not answering any of her questions.

I got to the office and walked in a daze to Ranger's office. He was sitting at his desk, behind a pile of paperwork.

"I found Waldo." I told him, sitting down.

"Waldo?"

"Okay, if Waldo was the money that went missing from the Rangeman account, I found Waldo."

"You found the two thousand dollars?"

I nodded.

"Babe."

"I was shopping and one store required cash, so I went to the ATM and found that there was more money that I expected. I didn't take anything out, I just left it all there, in case my withdrawing money affected anything."

"Let me call a meeting for all the people who were in the building that day when it happened. Grab a laptop and go to the conference room, log into your online banking account, and see if it says where the deposit came from, and when it occurred."

I did as Ranger said and sat in the conference room alone for a few minutes. I logged into the account and checked the transactions. It said that a two thousand dollar deposit was made, but showed up as a deposit that I did myself, standing at the bank with my card.

It made it look like I did it myself.

At that moment, I looked up to see a smug Brittany walk into the conference room, followed by Lester, Tank, and Ranger.


	7. Bitchany

And another...

Are you getting sick of these yet?

I promise, everything is going to get better. You'd be surprised to hear the end is in five chapters.

At the very most.

~kj

* * *

"That's so suspicious." Brittany said innocently after the entire matter was explained.

"No, it would have been suspicious if I didn't say anything and spent the money." I shot a "I will cut you" look in her direction.

"Stephanie, I wish I knew where all this hostility came from." She tilted her head and looked at me, wondering.

If there had been a gun in my pocket, she would have been dead.

"Focus." Lester whispered to me.

"Someone took the money from our account, and somehow got all the information to Stephanie's account, and put the money there." Tank reasoned.

We stayed in the conference room for hours, but we didn't make any progress. All the computer hacking skills in the world couldn't solve this mystery.

After the meeting, Ranger assigned Lester and I to monitors, while Tank went out to pick up a skip, and Ranger and Brittany went on a stakeout.

"I think we should call her Bitchany." I told Lester, spinning around in my chair.

"Bitchany?"

"You know. Bitch. Brittany."

"Bomber." He laughed, shaking his head.

"No! Really! Think of how awesome that would be. Whoa! I don't feel good." I stopped spinning in the chair and put my head between my knees until I was able to focus.

"Next thing I know, I'm going to go home and find her whore lipstick on Ranger's shirt."

"Bomber, you need to trust him."

"I do trust him! I really do. I just hate her."

"I know, but you need to relax a little. He loves you, he won't do anything to hurt you."

"But she will, and we both know it. We need to make a plan to get rid of her for good. To expose her as the two faced bitch that she is."

"Yeah. Okay. How do you plan to do that?"

"I don't know. Get a really good camera with good picture and sound quality, and watch her all the time?"

Lester was silent for a few minutes. "Actually. That's a good idea. Steph." He leaned towards me and I leaned towards him, my elbows on my legs. "We get a few cameras, maybe one outside her apartment door, one in here, one in the parking garage or wherever. We connect them to something of ours. My or your laptop, and we watch and listen to her every move. Since this place is already loaded with cameras, no one will notice a few more, and without them being linked to the Rangeman system, it wouldn't be possible for someone to scramble them. We see what no one wants us to see."

"Oh my god. Lester, you're a genius!" I moved and hugged him tightly.

I pulled away and sat back in my seat. "So how are we going to do that? We'd need really good surveillance cameras. Where do we get those?"

"Oh, I know a trick or two." He grinned.

I groaned when I suddenly realized something.

"What's up, Bombshell?"

"Today was supposed to be my day off!"

We were really going to do it. We were going to catch that bitch in action.

When the day was over, I kissed Lester's cheek as a way of thanking him for everything he had done for me in the passed few days. It meant a lot that there was at least _one _person who really knew who Brittany was, not just me.

I went home and showered and relaxed before going to bed. The next morning, Ranger and I drove to work together and rode the elevator to the control room, where there was a huge crowd of people with their backs to the elevator.

"What's going on?" Ranger said loudly, causing everyone to jump and scatter.

With the crowd thinning out, we saw what they were looking at.

There were pictures and posters all over the control room. They were hanging up over the monitors and walls, completely covering almost every empty surface. There were tons of smaller picture, but four huge posters, as well. There were tons of pictures scattered on the ground of the control room, as well.

As if it wasn't bad enough that someone had trashed the control room, what the pictures were actually of was worse.

They were pictures of me. Well, not just me. Of me and Lester. A bunch of the smaller pictures were of me and him standing together, sitting side by side, working together, getting in and out of cars together, standing in the elevator. The four posters were of me kissing Lester's cheek, us hugging, us going into his apartment when we were going to discuss Brittany, and then me leaving his apartment alone. On the pictures of us going into his apartment and me leaving alone, there were time stamps.

I knew who had done this. Who else could have done it? The same person who put the money in my account and was trying to steal my boyfriend.

Bitchany.

"Someone get this cleaned up and bring it to my office. And check the cameras and prints."

Ranger stormed off towards his office, it took me a minute to realize that my hand was attached to his, and he was pulling me along. He slammed his office door behind me and sat behind his desk, and I sat at one of the chairs across from him.

"I can understand the working together and driving together, all of that. But can you explain the hug, kiss, and apartment pictures to me?" he asked from behind clenched teeth.

"It was just a friendly-"

There was a knock at the door to the office.

"Enter." Ranger barked at the door.

It swung open and there Bitchany stood, looking sleek and slim in a black dress and silver accessories.

"I'm so sorry to interrupted, but I just saw the control room. I just wanted to say sorry, Ranger. I can't believe you found out that way, but it's better that you know."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, looking at her with wide eyes.

"Well, the entire hallway could hear you and Lester going at it that night, next time could you keep the screaming to a minimum?"

"I wasn't cheating with Lester!" I said to Ranger in defense and surprise.

"Anyway, Ranger, if you need someone to talk to, you know where to find me."

Bitchany walked out of the office and closed the door softly, swaying her hips the entire time.

_That bitch!_

"Ranger, you can't possibly believe her, she-"

"Stephanie. I've heard enough. Please leave." He turned his chair so his back was to me as he put his face in his hands.

"Ranger, why don't you trust me?"

"Because you don't trust me." He said it with such harshness and coldness that it broke my heart. My chest started to ache and my breathing irregular as I realized what was happening, and I wasn't about to let us die without a fight.

"Ranger, you can't do this. You can't just listen to her without hearing my side of the story."

"Stephanie, please, just let it go."

"No! I can't just let it go. I can't just let us go. I love you, I don't want to live without you. You can't just end us like this."

"Stephanie, please."

"No! I'm not just going to let it go. Do you know what I went through to finally get you? I'm not going to let you go."

"Stephanie." He wouldn't face me.

"You're a coward! You won't even look at me! What are we supposed to do? We share a freaking house!"

"You can leave work early and pack your things. Stay on the seventh floor. No one is using it right now."

"Ranger, I'm not just going to leave our house! We've gone through too much. I can't-you can't. Ranger, I can't do this. I can't go through a breakup with you."

Ranger pulled out his cell phone and pressed it to his ear. "Get her out of here."

I crumbled to the floor, sobbing, as Tank came in and picked me up and carried me out of Ranger's office, bawling my brains out.

Tank brought me to the conference room and closed the door behind us.

"Bomber, you need to pull yourself together."

I sobbed in reply.

"Every break up is hard, and you got over Morelli's easily. I'm sure you'll feel better in a few days."

He was wrong. He was very wrong. Ranger was the love of my life, the star shining through a cloudy night, the color in a field of black. He was my sun and moon, air and water, heart and soul. He was my everything. My chest hurt, it felt like my heart was actually breaking in two. I could barely breath and the tears were like a fountain coming from my eyes.

I hurt, I hurt so much. I knew that I would never get over Ranger.


	8. Nightmares

WOW!

Okay, I'm sorry that I left you with a cliff hanger! But honestly, if you think that's a cliff hanger, the next few chapters might seem like mountain-hangers.

Anyway, so I want you guys to know that I LOVE YOU and your reviews and sweetness.

And, it's amazing for me to have read all of your stories for the past year or two, and now, you're reading mine :D

I love it.

~kj

* * *

Tank left after awhile and I worked on trying to stop crying. After awhile, I was breathing deeply, and the tears had almost completely stopped.

That bitch had come into my life and took the one thing that I held dear. The one thing that I thought would always be there. Ranger was my statue, my stability, and now he was gone.

I wanted to make her pay. I wanted to slam her perfect face into a wall and rip out her perfect hair. I wanted to make her fat and ruin her perfect body.

But mostly, I wanted Ranger.

As soon as I had calmed myself down, the door to the conference room opened and I looked to see Bitchany sway into the room and sit near me.

"I told you I would get what I wanted," she whispered nefariously to me.

My hands fisted in rage, my teeth clenched. It was taking all of my self-control to not hit her. I looked to the open doorway and saw Lester leaning against the doorframe.

Feeling like he would protect me from hard, like I had a guardian angel, I let go of my self control and punched Brittany. My fist collided with her nose and she screamed. I stood and walked out of the conference room, closed the door behind me, and stood in front of Lester.

"Lester, the pictures."

"I saw."

"He thinks-"

"I heard."

"She told him."

"I know."

I bit my lip to stop myself from getting worked up again. The door to the conference room started to open, and Lester pulled the handles to keep Brittany from getting out just yet. Her strength was no match for his.

"He wants me out of the house."

"Where are you going to stay?"

"He told me the seventh floor…but I don't know if I can. I don't know if I could take staying somewhere that will remind me so much of him…I might-"

"I'll tell you what. You can stay in my apartment."

"Where are you going to stay?"

"The couch."

"Lester, are you sure?"

"Of course. Come on, I expect he wants you to get your stuff."

"Yeah." I sighed.

Lester led me to the elevator and we went down to the garage. We got into his SUV and drove the half an hour to my-Ranger's house. When we got there, I opened the door and we got a couple of duffle bags from the closet. Sure, they were Rangers, but he was more or less kicking me out, so he could suck it up and give me a couple of bags.

I got my stuff out of the bathroom, and put as much of my closet into the duffle bags as I could. I got my cell phone charger and all of my jewelry, other than the things that Ranger had given me. I left behind the clothes that reminded me too much of Ranger, as well.

Lester and I got ready to leave after awhile.

"Whatever happened to Rex?" Lester asked.

"We left him with Ella. With Ranger and I working so far from home, we couldn't be sure we would be home constantly to feed him. I still visit him all the time."

Lester took the bags to the car, and I stood in the foyer for a minute, looking at the house and the memories that had been created in it. I took my key to the house off of my key ring and left it in the bowl near the door.

I walked outside and Lester was leaning against the door to his SUV. I looked at him, and looked longingly at the Porsche.

I gave Lester a wicked grin and got into the Porsche. I left the key to the house in the key bowl, but I didn't leave the key to the Porsche.

Lester and I drove to the office and he helped me into his apartment. It was plain and clean, just like all the rest. We left my bags on the floor in the closet and went back to work. I hid in my previous cubical all day, doing long awaited searches and sending them out.

Near close, Lester showed up at my cubical and leaned against the wall.

"Come on kid, we're going out tonight."

"Where are we going?"

"Shopping. Then we're coming back and drinking."

"Lester, you shop?" I asked in surprise as I turned off the computer.

"Depends on what for."

"What are we shopping for?"

"You'll see."

Lester dragged me to the elevator and we rode down to the garage. We got into his SUV and drove off. We drove into town and Lester parked. He took me into a store I had never even heard of before. It was in back basement of a convenient store.

As soon as we walked through the store, I understood.

It was a store full of surveillance equipment. There was a huge section of video cameras, and a counter with firebombs and pocket knives.

"So this is how people have been able to bomb my cars time after time!"

Lester laughed. He went to the counter. "I have a order on hold. Rangeman."

"Right here, sir," the cashier handed Lester a box and Lester handed him some cash. Lester walked towards the door, but I remained leaning over the counter, looking over the firebombs.

"Lester. Do you have any of these?"

"Yes. Why?" he asked, concerned.

"Because I just thought of a use for them."

Lester and I drove back to his apartment and sat awkwardly on the couch.

"How are we going to arrange showers?" I asked him.

If there's an elephant in the room, point it out.

"You use this shower. I'll use the one in the gym."

"Really? I'm already kicking you out of your bed. Now I'm kicking you out of your shower, too?"

"No, it's really okay. More motivation to get up in the morning and work out."

"Okay."

We watched TV and he drank a beer from his fridge and I ate a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I got up and took a shower at nine, then got into pajamas and went back out to the living room. Lester was breaking out a bottle of Jose Cuervo.

"You don't want any of this, do you?" He asked, taking a gulp straight from the bottle, slouching back onto the couch. I slumped down next to him and he offered the bottle, and I declined.

We watched TV until two in the morning, when I practically sleep walked into the bedroom and crashed.

_I was running. I was running along a road that I knew well. It was dark and empty, save for me. All of the street lights were out, it was a new moon, and there were no stars in the sky. There was no light at all. I wasn't short of breath, I wasn't tired, I was simply running towards something that felt out of reach. I felt like I was running nowhere because everything was the same and I wasn't getting any closer. I wanted to go faster, but I couldn't. I was scared and frightened and had no idea what I was going to see, but I knew it was going to be bad._

_I stopped in front of a set of gates and found that they were open. I saw light coming out of a window and I approached it, just barely tall enough to see into the window._

_In the window I saw Brittany and Ranger. She had a sparkling ring on her left finger and was kissing him. He was holding her close to him. I smashed the window with my fist, trying to break them apart, but the glass broke._

I awoke in a cold sweat, gasping in air from my tears.

"Stephanie? Are you okay? You were crying." Someone asked me in the dark.

I was blind in the dark, but I felt strong hands on my arms.

"Ranger?" I asked, hoping.

"Lester."

Damn.


	9. Did you just lie to Ranger?

Okay, I think I'll leave it off with this tonight.

I love all of you guys! And I love the reviews.

Oh, and I lied. I was writing, and the ending seems to be getting further and further away.

So we have a little while longer with each other.

Enjoy!!

~kj

* * *

The next day, I was sleeping on my keyboard instead of doing the searches. There was a slam on the monitor in front of me and I jumped up in surprise, little black spots from my headache dancing in front of my eyes.

Note to self, don't stay up until two in the morning on a work day.

"Ah! Uh? What?" I looked around, wiping a little line of drool from my mouth.

Oh, I was a vision.

I turned to the opening of my cubical.

Ranger.

My heart beat out my chest, my broken, bleeding, torn up heart. My stomach flipped and I bit my lip to keep the tears from building up in my eyes.

He had on the blank face, a face that I hadn't seen in a really long time. He hadn't worn it since we'd gotten together. Now that we were broken up, I guess he had reason to put it on now that we weren't together.

"Great, you're awake."

"Yeah. I'm awake. What do you want?"

"First, you took the Porsche?"

"You never said I couldn't."

"Really? So are you going to blow up the office, just because I never said you couldn't."

"You never asked for the keys, you never said I couldn't take it, and for all intensive purposes, for the passed year, it's been mine."

"Fine. Keep the car."

"Is that all?"

"No, second. Did you punch Brittany in the nose and then lock her in the conference room?"

"I didn't lock her in the conference room. She was just in there, and Lester wouldn't let her out. He closed the door once. I didn't tell him to."

But the thought of punching her made me a little happy inside.

"What the hell? She could sue you!"

"Well, that's none of your concern, is it?"

If the blank face could get blanker, it did.

"Did you stay in Lester's apartment last night?"

"That's none of your concern either."

"Yes, it is."

"Why, Ranger? You were the one who wouldn't hear my side of the story! You were the one who believed the first thing someone told you! You ended a year long relationship over someone else's lie. So right now, what I do is none of your concern. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm hung over and I'm going to puke."

I ran passed him and into the bathroom.

I lied. I knew I wasn't going to puke. I was going to cry. What he didn't know didn't hurt him, let him think I had been drunk.

I spent the rest of the work day in the bathroom until there was a knock on the door.

"Stephanie? Are you in there?" Lester.

"Yeah."

"I know you're upset. What do you want to do?"

"Cry. Stay in bed forever. Disappear."

"Aren't you curious about what Brittany and Ranger are doing?"

"Uh, no!"

"No, no, no. Not like that. Separately. They're separate."

"Right."

"Stephanie, I set up the cameras."

I got up and opened the door.

"What are we waiting for?"

Lester and I took the elevator to the garage and sat in his SUV for a moment.

"Okay, here's the deal. Ranger went home. I set the cameras to report to this laptop." He pointed to a laptop in the back of the SUV. "So we can stake out Ranger's house, and watch Brittany at the same time."

"Is this legal?"

"Not really."

I laughed. "Lester, you're my best friend."

"Damn straight."

I laughed and Lester started the SUV and started driving. I pulled the laptop from the backseat. I opened it in my lap and turned the laptop on. It was set up exactly like my computer in the office.

"What do I click to get into the camera part?" I asked him as I looked at the icons on the computer.

"Click computer, applications, Dig cam, and that should open it."

I did as he said and a screen showed up. It was divided into four different sections, from four different cameras. One was facing her apartment door, the other of the office, and the other in the garage, and the other in the elevator. Everything was empty, no people in sight. As we drove, I shifted my eyes periodically from the laptop to the scenery outside my window.

Lester slowed down after awhile and I looked up to see we were outside Ranger's house. We both sunk down in our seats as he turned the ignition off. I could see light in his downstairs office, but we couldn't see in the house. I turned my attention to the laptop and watched as Tank walked into the elevator.

"Was it hard setting up the cameras?" I asked him.

"Not really."

"How did you do it without anyone noticing?"

"I scrambled the building cameras and told them that I was checking on the cameras. Next to each camera, I put the camera that I bought. They're small and they fit in the little dome where each Rangeman camera was."

"Oh. I thought only Ranger could scramble the cameras."

"Bombshell, there are tons of things that Ranger doesn't want us to know, that we know anyway."

I gasped when I looked at the screen and saw Tank's face in the elevator.

"Lester, oh my gosh. What happened to Tank?"

"Well, after the pictures were all over the office, well. I didn't want to die, so I was hiding and Ranger and Tank ended up in the boxing ring…"

"Oh my gosh! How could Ranger do that to him?"

"He was mad. It's something we all know. When the boss is mad, he's mad. That's his way of taking it out. Remember last year with Menlo and I got the black eye? He takes it out on us, but he always makes it up to us."

"How?"

"He'll give us a high priced skip to pick up, and tell us to keep the body slip. Or you know, something that like. That's what he did last time."

"How could you let Ranger beat up Tank?"

"Because Brittany posted those pictures."

"But-"

"No, it's something we all know. If the person who angered him is untouchable or unable to be found, he picks someone up. Really, don't worry. It looks bad, but Tank can take so much more than that."

I turned my attention back to the house and saw the study light go out. A few moments later, the porch light went on.

Ranger only turned the porch light on when he was going out.

"Lester! Go!" I told him, worried.

Lester turned the ignition on and sped away.

My cell phone rang. It was my Batman ring tone.

I picked it up. "Hello?" I asked, nervously, looking over at Lester.

"What the hell?"

"What the hell what?"

"You were watching the house?"

"Someone was watching your house?"

"Not someone. You."

"Ranger, I don't know what you're talking about."

"First rule of lying about staking out someone's house. Check your mirrors."

I looked at the mirror to see headlights. I could tell it was Ranger's truck.

"Shit!" I whispered to Lester.

"I know, I saw."

"I'm sorry." I said to Ranger. "I was trying to figure out if it would be awkward to get the rest of my things."

"I'll box it up for you and leave it on the seventh floor tomorrow morning."

"Okay. Thanks. Sorry to put you through all this trouble."

I hung up and sighed.

"Oh my god. Bomber, did you just lie to Ranger?"

"Yes."

"Did he buy it?"

"Yes."

"Bomber. You just lied to Carlos Manoso and you got away with it. You're learning!"

I sighed. I looked back to the laptop and saw that nothing was happening. I exited out of the screen with all of the cameras and went to the search.

"Lester, how did this thing with Brittany ever start? I mean, she never had an interview, that I know of. What's up with that?"

"She didn't. I overheard Ranger saying that she called because she was in town and he offered her a job on the spot."

"Over the phone?"

"Yeah."

"He didn't take a application at all?"

"No. I doubt it. He just took her word for it."

I typed her name into the search. "Lester, how sure are you of this information? Would you bet your life on it?"

"I heard it from him. I was in the control room and he was talking to Tank about a new person starting, the party. Everything."

"Lester, I just searched Brittany Peterson." I said, looking at the newly loaded screen, which read: **Brittany Peterson: 1968-2005. Deceased.**

"And?"

"She's dead."

"What?"

I looked back down at the laptop to see that the battery died and the screen was black.

"Lester," I said in panic, my heart pounding in my chest, my palms and arm pits starting to sweat. "We need to get back to Rangeman ASAP."

* * *

Okay, I'm sorry about this cliff hanger. If you all hate me enough tomorrow, I'll make it up to you :D

But I promise you, this cliff hanger is WAY better than the one you would get if I posted the next chapter and left it off there.


	10. Sex toys! God, Tank!

Hey guys...I'm REALLY SORRY.

Like, really really really sorry.

Things have been crazy. Finals and school and stuff. And life. Life sneaks in there once in awhile.

And I'm REALLY sorry about the cliffhanger, but I totally warned you! You wanted another chapter, sooo...

Anyway. Here's 10. Working on typing up 13. I'll try to get this story finished this week.

Anyway, I LOVE you all. A lot. Like, seriously. You're the AWESOMEST and the SWEETEST and I LOVE YOU ALL.

~kj

* * *

"What do you mean, she's dead?" Lester asked, suddenly as panicked as I was.

"Lester, I don't know. The laptop died."

"Maybe it was a mistake."

"Maybe. Brittany Peterson could be a fairly common name. Maybe she's not the only one."

"Right. I mean, pretty common name."

"Lester, for one second, lets say that it was right and she's dead. What happens?"

"Well, it means that the woman we know is an imposter."

"Right."

"That she has some ulterior motive."

"Shit. What do we do. Do we tell Ranger? I mean, the facts would be right there. He'd have to believe us. But then again, he wouldn't listen to me before. What about now? He might think that I like hacked the search system, put up a fake file about her being dead, and just push me to the side."

"No matter what, I'll stand by you."

"That means a lot, Lester, but he'd know we were in this together. As if I could hack anything by myself?"

"Then we'll really need to do our homework."

Lester and I were both on edge, our bodies shaking and completely run by adrenaline and anxiety at this point. I could have screamed as we pulled into the Rangeman garage. I was nervous and excited, scared and concerned. But I was on the brink of something, and that much I could be proud of.

Lester and I got into the elevator and took it up to the control room. I was holding the laptop tightly to my body. Every second that it took for the elevator to rise seemed like hours. In the two weeks it took "Brittany" to invade my life, I had never been more on edge than now. The break up with Ranger was soul crushing, heart breaking, and utterly mind blowing, but when focused otherwise, it wasn't on the forefront of my mind. I loved him, and that meant that even if he didn't want me anymore, I wanted to protect him.

Right now, I wanted to protect him from "Brittany."

The doors to the elevator finally opened at the control room. Hal and Cal were watching the monitors.

"Hey Santos, you getting a piece of Bomber?" Hal asked.

"Man, shut the fuck up." Lester told him as we walked passed them into my cubical. I turned my computer on and Lester fumbled through my desk until he found a power cord.

"Did you put it in there without my knowledge?" I asked as he pulled it out and connected it to the wall behind me.

"Yes."

"Good job, then." I told him. He pulled a chair over and I moved mine to allow room enough for the both of us in the cubical. He put the laptop in front of my printer on the desk, and let it turn on.

I started the search first. I typed in the same name and got the same file.

It read: Brittany Peterson: 1968-2005. Deceased. I clicked the link and it opened. I started reading, Lester looking over my shoulder.

**Brittany Peterson, born 1968, has lived throughout Trenton, New Jersey, and urban cities in New York. A major in Criminal Justice, Investigation, and prosecution, Peterson worked throughout New Jersey and New York as a security specialist. Never married and without kids, Peterson is survived by her twin sister, Alice, who is contained in the Ann Klein Forensic Center. Brittany Peterson died by means of head trauma and suspected manual strangulation by sister Alice, though never brought to trial due to mental instability.**

I printed this and put it in a folder and sat on it. Just in case.

"Lester." I whispered. "She's been dead for five years."

"The Ann Klein center is for people who were determined innocent in crimes because of insanity or incompetence to have a trial, or who need special security measures due to the nature of their illness." He whispered.

"Where is it?"

"Trenton."

"So, it's like, right here."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Oh my god." I whispered.

"Try searching for photos of Brittany Peterson."

I typed her name in the images option and several photos popped up. A few of her crime scene, a few of her in her casket, then a few real pictures take throughout her life.

She looked close to the Brittany we knew, but a little different. I printed out the pictures and put them in the folder beneath my body.

"Search Alice Peterson," Lester whispered, watching the video screen on the laptop.

I typed in Alice Peterson and clicked the first link that appeared. It read:

**Alice Peterson, born 1968, has lived in Trenton, New Jersey. Alice was a store manager at a local "Babies R Us" store. Was relocated to Ann Klein Forensic Center in Trenton after being suspect to sister, Brittany Peterson's murder in 2005. No trial was ever held due to mental instability, a supposed extreme nervous breakdown due to stress. Prints of Alice Peterson were found at crime scene for Brittany Peterson's murder. Alice Peterson was never married and does not have any children.**

I printed that page out and put it in the folder. I clicked the images tab and several images of Alice appeared. They all looked like the "Brittany" that we knew. I printed out those pictures and put them under my seat, with the rest of the pictures.

I looked at the clock to see that it was just after ten in the evening.

"What do you say we do?" I asked Lester.

"Put the file in the laptop, we close it, we walk out of here, go to the garage, get into the SUV and drive to the twenty-four hour Wal-Mart, and buy a safe."

"Really?" I asked.

"We're dealing with a big case here. I'd say it's necessary."

We did as he said. Closed the laptop with the file between the screen and keyboard. I carried it out just as I had carried it in, we got in the elevator and went down to the garage, got in the SUV, and drove away.

The Wal-Mart, as always, was open. We brought the laptop in with us and asked a sales associate where the safes would be. They helped us find a combination lock safe that was waterproof, inflammable, and big enough for our laptop and several other things. We bought it quickly, not many people were shopping at nine-thirty on a Tuesday night.

We got back to Rangeman and Lester carried the plain box to the apartment floor, while I still carried the laptop.

We got off when the elevator stopped, seeing Tank in passing.

"What is that?" He asked, referring to the box.

"Sex toys! God, Tank, mind your own sex life!" I yelled at him as we walked to his apartment. I unlocked the door with Lester's keys and we went inside. I locked the door as much as I could, then blocked the door with a chair from the kitchen. Lester had gone inside the bedroom and was opening the box and setting up the safe.

I brought the laptop with the folder to the bedroom and sat on the bed as he checked out the safe. It was big and gray, but just small enough to fit in our closet.

"The safe has a self-choice combination." He told me.

"Huh?"

"We pick the combination. What should it be?" He asked.

"I don't know. 68-2-25."

"Why that?"

"Brittany Peterson lived from 1968 to 2005."

"I get it. That works."

Lester set the lock, put the laptop and folder in the safe, and set it in the closet, where it would stay.

He closed the door to the closet and we both sat on the bed, staring at the closet.

"Lester, I'm kind of scared."

"Don't be. We're in this together. Just because I'm your best friend, not your lover, doesn't mean my protection is inferior."

"I want to get suited up. You know? Pocket knife, gun, The works."

"We'll do that right away tomorrow morning."

"What should we do about Ranger? We have to tell him."

"We'll get more information first. We need to visit the Ann Klein center, and get more information on Brittany Peterson's death."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Weren't you engaged to a cop?"

Morelli.


	11. A hundred thousand?

Morning everyone! This is eleven.

LOVE your reviews. And you.

So, I finished the story this morning and I'm posting the rest of the chapters today. Enjoy!

~kj

* * *

Lester and I remained sitting on the bed, staring at the closet, even though it was closing in on one in the morning.

"Lester, I'm so paranoid. I have this terrible feeling that she knows that we know."

"There's no way she could know. When you're around her, you need to act like everything is normal. Act like you're going to cry every time you see her. That's what she wants you see. For whatever reason, she wants Ranger and wants you away from him."

"But she killed her sister! I don't want her within a mile of him."

"Steph, he can defend himself. Surely you know that. Just worry about you. Act like everything is normal. Keep the status quo. I know you're impulsive, and I know you want to act now, but for the love of all that is holy, you need to contain it."

"Okay." I agreed. "Nothing stupid. I promise."

"If we don't do this the right way, it could all end badly."

I knew he was right. Finally, we started to get ready for bed. I laid down in bed, still worried that I was going to hear the door breaking down or a gunshot.

"Lester, feel free to say no, but will you sleep in here tonight? I can't sleep alone, I'm too paranoid. I promise, all platonic."

"Sure Bomber, whatever makes you feel safe."

The bed was king sized, so even though he was huge, we both were able to keep to our own sides of the bed.

We woke to his cell phone alarm the next morning at six. He got up and apologized as he went into the kitchen. I rolled over, but my stomach had other plans.

I made a mad dash to the bathroom, getting to the toilet just in time.

Lester knocked at the bathroom door a few minutes later to make sure I was okay. I washed my mouth out before leaving the bathroom.

"I just worried myself sick. I'm okay. Just a little nauseous." I told him.

"I'm going to the gym. Are you going to go back to sleep?" he asked.

"And sit in this apartment alone with crazy down the hall? I think not."

I went with Lester to the gym and we did cardio for awhile. Of course, I didn't run as fast or as long as he did, but I tried it, and that's all that mattered!

When we were done in the gym, I was about to go into the locker room and change, when Lester pulled me aside.

"While we're here, lets go into the shooting gallery and have you practice a little."

"Okay."

So we went to the shooting gallery and I practiced for an hour. Lester said he was impressed at how I shot; the entire time I was thinking about "Brittany."

We showered, changed, and went back up to the apartment for breakfast, but Ranger was standing outside Lester's door, waiting for us.

"Uh, hi Ranger." I squeaked as Lester unlocked the door.

"Sex toys?!" He all but yelled.

"Ranger, it was a joke to Tank, I promise." I told him as Lester went into the apartment and left the door open for me.

He stared into my eyes for a few minutes, and I was almost sure that he knew.

Stupid paranoia.

"I swear, Lester and I are strictly platonic. Of course, you don't believe that. You don't believe anything I say, so I don't know why I even bother talking to you."

"Stephanie."

"What? You took yourself out of my life. What next? Are you going to fire me? Kick me out? Make me live on the street? Ranger, you broke my heart, what else do you want from me?"

As I spoke, tears fell from my face. I couldn't believe this man had broken my heart, after all we've been through.

"A hundred thousand dollars went missing. Have you seen anyone else this morning?"

My mouth went dry. "Holy freaking shit. A hundred thousand?!"

"Yes. The cameras were scrambled around four in the morning."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone else this morning. But if you want to check my account later, I'm sure it will be in there."

He disappeared into the elevator, and I went into Lester's apartment and blocked the door.

"Lester!" I whispered. He was in the kitchen, making omelets. "More money went missing. I'm going to check the laptop." I got the laptop from the safe and brought it out to the kitchen. I started the video from midnight, and skipped until I saw any movement, starting at four in the morning.

I saw "Brittany" come out of her apartment at five minutes after four in the morning. She took the elevator to the office, where Tank was watching the monitors. Of course, they were scrambled, so he was watching nothing.

"I need to go check on the wires, try to get this sorted out. Watch and call me if they unscramble." He told her.

"Will do."

He left the office and she went into Ranger's office, where he kept his personal computer and documents. She came out ten minutes later, reached into her pocket, and the screens unscrambled. She called Tank, and left when he arrived.

Lester was watching the entire time, smiling.

"Stephanie, he set her up."

"What?" I asked, incredulous.

"He left so she could do what she needed to do. The wires? It's all a lie. When the cameras are scrambled, we just wait until the person unscrambles them. Fast foreword to when Ranger left this floor." I did as he said and found Ranger walking into the elevator.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a speed dial number. "She bit? Yeah, no one else saw her. You bastard, the sex toy was a joke!"

Lester and I chuckled.

"So they know it's her, they set her up to steal money. What else do they know?"

"I don't know. But that was a trap, and she bit the bait. We're not alone in trying to catch this bitch."

"So what now?" I asked Lester as he put the two omelets he made onto plates and handed one to me.

"Now, we have a cop to contact."

After breakfast, I called Joseph Morelli from the landline in Lester's bedroom. I put it on speaker so Lester could listen in.

"Morelli." Joe said into the phone, his voice blaring over the speaker.

"Hey, Joe. It's Stephanie."

I was slightly nervous. I hadn't had any extended communication with Joe since last year, when we broke up.

"Stephanie? Really? Hi."

"I'm not going to play coy. I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

I explained the situation to him.

"So what do you need from me?" He asked.

"Any information you can give us on Brittany and Alice Peterson. Death certificate, birth certificate, anything. We're trying to dig up as much dirt as we can. Can you help us?" I asked.

Lester and I both held our breath as we waited for Morelli's answer. Without his help, we would still be able to obtain all the information we wanted, but it would be a lot harder. Lester assured me that police recorders were hard to hack into."

"Sure. But if anything happens, you didn't get anything from me. I'll see what I can dig up today. Meet me tomorrow at seven at the Pino's parking lot."

"Thank you so much, Joe. You have no idea how much this is going to help."

"Anytime, cupcake. I hope everything works out with Manoso."

Lester and I hung up and sighed in relief.

"So, what now?" I asked him.

"We have a certain Ann Klein to visit." He told me.

_Fabulous._


	12. Wewatch a lot of porn?

Lester and I drove to Trenton to the Ann Klein center where "Alice Peterson" had been held for some amount of time after her sister's death.

"Before we go in, I need you to know something." Lester told me.

"Okay."

"There's a very high chance that they won't release any information about Alice Peterson. It's part of a patient confidentiality promise. If they can't release any information to us, we're going to get it ourselves."

"How are we going to do that?"

"I have this little, unnoticeable drive that I can put into their computer. The only problem is, I'll need you to play along and some how cause a distraction if that happens."

"What's the plan?"

"Okay, so when we go in, I want you to be the one who is talking and trying to get all the information. Hopefully, I'll be able to just connect to a front desk computer without any one noticing. If there's a receptionist, I want you to find a way to get them away from the computer. Claim to need help finding a contact, demand to see their manager, something."

"And if there are multiple people around?"

"Then we'll think of something else."

We arrived and the building was made of bricks, a discrete sign revealing the building for what it really was. We went inside to see that it looked almost identical to a hospital. White walls and tile floors, signs giving directions everywhere, and a desk at the front of the building.

Lester and I approached the desk and a young, small woman looked up at us through wary eyes. She looked like she was terrified of us, or well, lets face it. She was terrified of Lester.

"Can-can I help you?" She squeaked.

"I was hoping you could tell me if someone is staying here. Alice Peterson."

"Let me see. Uh, no. Alice Peterson…isn't here anymore."

"Why?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, unless you're family, I cannot tell you anymore."

"What? We were best friends! You really can't tell me anything? What is with this? My best friend in the world disappeared, and no one wants to help! You know, you only release information to family and a spouse. Do you know how frustrating that is?! Friendships aren't legally recognized. Sure, wife beating husbands are recognized, but not friendships."

"Ma'am, I'm very sorry. I wish I could tell you more, but it's policy."

We were alone in the reception area. I saw someone walking around behind automatic sliding glass doors, but no one else had entered the reception area.

"Oh fine. Can you at least show me to the bathroom? After an hour of being in the car, I need to freshen up."

"I guess." She glanced in terror at Lester as he moved to sit at one of the chairs lining the wall of the room.

She lead me passed the glass doors and down a short hallway to the bathroom. I went inside and washed my hands, and went back out to see that she was waiting for me. I gave her a fake angry-suspicious look and followed her back to the desk, where Lester hadn't moved an inch from the position he had been in the chair when we left.

"Come on. I guess we should just go home." I told him.

"Thank you for all your help, don't mind my sister, she's a little overdramatic." Lester said to the receptionist.

We went outside and got into the SUV.

"Well, did you succeed?" I asked him.

"Check and mate." He told me. He pulled the laptop out of the backseat and opened it on the consol.

"Stephanie, lets trade seats. You drive and I'm going to hack their system."

"Sounds evil."

"And illegal."

"Well, as long as we're breaking the rules, might as well do it all the way."

Lester and I switched seats and I drove back to the office while he worked on the laptop. As I drove, I realized that it was getting dark. I played through the events of the day and still couldn't understand where all the time went.

I pulled into the drive through at McDonalds and looked at the menu.

"Lester, what do you want?" I asked as I pulled up, decided on a chicken sandwich meal with super-sized fries.

"I don't really eat fast food-"

"Lester, what do you want?"

"Number one?"

I ordered our food, drove up to the second window and paid, got our food, and drove around the building to the parking lot. I parked and opened the bag. Lester and I ate our McDonalds while he continued to hack the system.

By the time we got back to the office, the food was gone and the hacking was complete. Lester had made his way into the system, and it was a matter of finding the right file. Apparently, the company kept their files well hidden, even in their own system.

We got into the elevator from the garage and rode up to his apartment. Again, I was holding the laptop to my body, as closely and tightly as I could. Lester had uncovered the section of the system that we needed from our new friends at Ann Klein. All of our files and folders were between the screen and keyboard of the laptop, as well.

The elevator door opened. Ranger and Tank were standing there, facing Lester and I, waiting.

"Hey guys." I squeaked, pulling my arms around the laptop even more.

"You've been holding onto that laptop pretty tight for the passed few days." Tank put his arm on the frame of the elevator, to stop the door from closing.

"Uh, we…watch a lot of porn?" I squeaked.

"Why is that the first place your mind always goes?" Lester whispered.

"I don't know!" I whispered back, ferociously.

"You two have some explaining to do. Willingly, or by force." Ranger said, raising his eyebrows at me.

Lester and I looked at each other, and knew it was time to come clean.

I sighed and moved aside, allowing Tank and Ranger to enter the elevator. We rode up to the control room and Lester led the way to the conference room. The monitors were being watched by Cal and Hal again.

We all entered the conference room, and Lester looked around the room as I locked the door behind Tank and Ranger.

"What are you doing?" Ranger asked Lester.

"Checking for bugs."

We all sat and I put the laptop on the table and opened it, and took out the folder.

"Ranger, when you hired Brittany, did you see her or take an application?"

"No, I pretty much hired her over the phone."

"When you saw her, does she look any different now than she did when you two dated?"

"A little, but she got hurt in a security job and needed face reconstruction to repair the damage."

"Ranger, we know that you know about the money. We're not dishing until you do."

"How do you-"

"Just answer. We know you set her up for the hundred thousand."

"Okay. Fine. We knew it was her. Someone new shows up and suddenly, money goes missing. Not a hard question to answer. We figured that she was doing it to frame you. So we set her up to do it, and she did it again. With you out of the picture, we don't know why she did it. And the money didn't go into your account, either."

"I'll ask about that later, you just let her take your money?" I asked, leaning over the table.

"We took all the real money out of the account and replaced it with counterfeit money."

"How did you get counterfeit money?"

"Illegally."

I rolled my eyes.

"Wait wait wait." I said, the words he said before finally sinking in. "You knew she framed me and you still put me through hell?"

"Stephanie-"

"No, did you know that she was the one who put up the pictures, too?"

"Stephanie!" Ranger almost yelled. "Of course I know that. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Then why the hell didn't you-did you-you knew! You knew and you dumped me? You listened to her and- Ranger, I can't even wrap my head around this!"

"Hey, stop it!" Lester yelled. "You're my best friend and I don't want to see you hurt over this right now, and you're my boss and I don't want to have to beat you up. So lets just get down to fucking business!"

Ranger and I adjusted ourselves in our seats and got back to business. I pulled some papers out of the folder and showed them to Ranger.

"Brittany Peterson died in 2005, at the suspected hands of her twin sister, Alice. If you see, this is a picture of Brittany, this is Alice, and this is the woman working for us now."

Ranger was still for a long time. He looked through all of the papers and read everything.

"Are you sure she's dead?"

"We're meeting with Morelli tomorrow to see what he could dig up."

"Stephanie." He said lightly, not looking at me.

"Ranger."

"We're just going to leave." Lester and Tank got up and left the room, closing the door behind them. Ranger reached over and locked the door.

"What happened to us?" I asked, bringing my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around myself.

"Do you want the entire story?"

"Yes, Ranger, I want the story."

"Ever since the money showed up in your account, and even just when it went missing, I knew it was her, and I thought I knew her game. I thought that she just wanted me and wanted you out of the picture. There's more to it than I first thought."

"You can say that again."

"Stephanie, I can't do this right now. I need to figure out everything with Brittany. Or Alice."

"You need to figure this out? After all of the work that all of us have done on this, you're the one who needs to figure it out? Are you planning on continuing this all alone, without Lester or I, because if that's the case, I'll just take all of this back," I told him, I told him, sliding the folder to my side of the table and into my arms.

"Stephanie." He looked at me, the blank face on.

"No, Ranger. We have put too much work in this for you to just take over from here. Lester is still trying to get into the Ann Klein system. If you want to continue all of this, we're in it together. Those are the only conditions, aren't they fair?"

He was silent for a long time, but there was no way I was going to back down. Either Lester and I were included, or he wasn't going to get any of our research.

He finally looked back at me. He looked defeated.

"Fine."

"I'll get Lester and Tank." I said as I stood.

WIN!


	13. Sleep Puking?

OHMYGOSH.

I get home from work (my feet are a little sore, but I'll be fine :P) and find 16 emails!

All from you guys!

So, here's the deal. I have the entire rest of the story written out, but I'm going to rewrite the last couple of chapters.

Why?

Because they were written in a rush and you deserve better.

I know I can do better, and I love you guys so much.

So, expect more updates this weekend, I LOVE LOVE LOVE you all. Have a wonderful Sunday!!

* * *

"Wait." Ranger stood and blocked the door.

"What?" I asked, stopping in my tracks, two feet away from him.

We stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes and he moved closer to me. He slowly took my hands in his and put them on his arms. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on the top of my head. He pressed his lips to the top of my head and trailed down, his lips brushing against my forehead and cheek.

I pushed him away before he could touch my lips.

"Ranger, I can't. You hurt me too much. You can't kiss me and have it mean nothing anymore. If you're going to kiss me, it has to mean something."

"Okay."

He moved out of the way and I unlocked and opened the door. Tank and Lester were standing on either side of the door, their arms crossed.

"Okay, blood bath is over. It's safe to come in now," I told them. They filed back into the conference room and we all sat, Ranger locked the door.

"We're all in this together. The four of us are a team now." I announced, gauging Ranger's response. He said nothing, so I continued.

"Lester, have you found the right file yet?"

"Actually, yes." He said, opening the laptop. He clicked a few keys and began reading.

"Alice Peterson was released in January of this year by a Carl Rivera. I searched Carl Rivera in our system, and he was found dead in February in woods outside of Trenton. There was no mention of Alice Peterson. A week before she was released, she had a major fit, trying to escape. Apparently, she made claims that she was Brittany and wanted to leave. They had to sedate her to calm her down. Then, she was released."

"She killed some random guy, too!?"

"Bomber, there's no proof that she killed him."

"Lester, lets face it. She killed him."

Tank chuckled. Ranger was just staring off into space.

"Great, so those are the facts. We're all caught up. What now?" I asked.

We all looked at each other. No one really knew what to do.

"We need to trap her and corner her. It has to be easy enough. She's right here, under all of our noses." I said, stating the obvious.

"Stephanie, she's proved herself to be dangerous, and a little crazy." Lester shut the laptop and looked at me.

"Lester, we've proved ourselves-"

He shot me an indescribable expression.

"Okay, so you guys have proved yourselves tons of times, you can handle a little crazy woman. Don't tell me we can't just take care of her now."

"Stephanie, we need to wait."

"Wait? For what? There's four of us, one of her. She stole from your company, theoretically killed two people, threatened and framed me, broke us up, and escaped from a crazy house. I'd say it's time to get on it. What are we waiting for? Her to kill one of us? Steal more money? Blow the building up? Disappear before we can do anything? Tell me, Ranger, what are we waiting for? This isn't the woman you used to know, you know that, right?"

"Yes, Stephanie. You've brought that to my attention."

"Okay, then just tell me, what are we waiting for?"

"We need to prepare. We need to get other people into this. We need to find a time and place where it will be only us and her, not anyone else. If this goes any other way than what we plan, I don't want anyone to get hurt. We're still researching. You said that you're meeting Morelli?"

"Yeah, tomorrow morning…well…in six hours at the Pino's parking lot." I noticed that the clock was broadcasting one in the morning.

"Since we have to get up early, we'll be going."

Lester collected the papers and closed the laptop.

"Wait wait wait, can we keep those and look it all over?" Ranger asked.

"No, we want to lock them up in our safe. Assurance, you know." Lester said as we stood and walked towards the door.

Lester walked through the door and I followed, only to be stopped by Ranger.

"Babe, can we talk?"

He called me _babe._ "What, Ranger?"

"Just in the office for a minute, please?"

"Okay."

I exited the conference room and walked to the office with Ranger on my heels. I heard the door close behind me as I sat. I turned to see Ranger lean against the door, his eyes on the ceiling.

"Can you just answer one thing for me? Please? Just one thing, honestly, and I'll leave you alone."

"Just ask me, Ranger. I had a long day, and I want to sleep. And more to the fact, I don't have much sleep to look foreword to."

"Are you sleeping with Lester?"

"Ranger, really?"

"Please, just give me some peace of mind."

"Ranger, why do you need peace of mind? I've been going to sleep every night, knowing that I lost you. Knowing that everything we had in the passed year, in the passed several years, is over. And now I find out that you know what was going on all the while, and I can't figure out why we broke up. So I don't know why I lost you, I don't have my peace of mind. Why should you have yours?"

"Stephanie, _please._" He looked at me with such emotion that my entire being actually froze. My heart felt like it stopped, my stomach felt hard and cold in my body.

"Ranger. If I tell you, I want an answer. And you know what I'm going to ask, so you can decide now."

He stood for a long time. He looked at the floor, then the ceiling. He didn't look at me. Several minutes went by.

Nine minutes, to be exact.

Nine minutes went by, with him thinking about answering a question that I should have had answered in the first place. A question that I shouldn't have to ask. He actually had to think and consider and apparently, have a small debate, a poll, a vote, and a trial in his head to figure out what he was going to do.

Finally, Ranger stepped away from the door. I had my answer.

I went back to Lester's apartment and went to sleep, with him in the bed next to me.

When I awoke, I felt well rested. Like I was sleeping on a cloud. I was warm and comfortable, spread out. Everything was good in the world for a minute. I didn't have to think about the bad. I didn't even have to acknowledge my identity for a few long moments as I drifted out of sleep land and into the land of being awake, with adult issues and problems.

Of course, it all has to end eventually.

I looked at the clock to see that it was eleven.

In the morning.

"Shit!" I swore, jumping up from the bed. It was empty beside me. "Lester!?" I called into the apartment.

He ran into the room, completely dressed. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Tell me you went to see Morelli."

"Yeah. I did. Got some documents."

"Okay, great. Why didn't you wake me?"

"…I did?"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I did. You ran into the bathroom, puked, then went back to bed. I decided that if you're sick, I wasn't going to wake you up or anything. Especially in a time like this, you need your rest."

"I did-what!?"

Lester laughed. "You were probably sleep running and puking."

"Ugh." I fell back into the bed, not wanting to acknowledge the bitter taste that probably occupied my mouth.

"Don't worry. Really. Anyway, here's what I got."

"Wait, don't show me. Lets just get to the conference room and get Tank and Ranger in there."

"I'll call them. How much time do you want to get ready?"

"Give me half an hour."

"So forty-five minutes. Got it."

I took a shower and got all dressed. I dressed warm because the building and everything, especially me, felt cold. We met in the conference room, and pulled everything out behind locked doors.

Lester had gotten copies of birth certificates, a death certificate, and a couple of court orders for Alice and Brittany Peterson.

"So, it's official. That's Alice." Lester announced.

"Yeah. That's Alice." Ranger sighed. "Poor Brittany."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, wanting to get to the point.

"We'll send out a memo for everyone to get out of the building tonight, but they'll have connections inside. Video and audio, so anything goes wrong, we have back up. We need to get her out of here as soon as possible before anyone else gets hurt."

"Great. So everyone get suited up, meet back here at nine."

I was somewhat excited as we stood and left the room. Things were finally going to happen. Alice was going to be out of our hair, and maybe Ranger and I…

We left the conference room and were headed towards the center of the control room when a gun cocked behind us.


	14. It's not mine

OHMYGOSH.

Two words: THIRTY EMAILS.

All from you. So:

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I love you all, and I love your support and reviews.

I'm so glad you like my story! So, here's rewritten chapter 14. Hope you like it!!

~kj

* * *

"If you value your lives, you'll stop there."

I closed my eyes and scrunched my face. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. All I needed to know was that our plan was officially off.

We slowly turned to look at Alice in the back of the control room, holding a gun. She was dressed in combat boots, cargo pants that were tucked into her boots, and a plain black shirt. Her hair was up in a pony tail and her makeup was done.

It's a good thing she was threatening our lives, because I hated her enough for looking fabulous at a time like this.

I looked to see that Lester, Tank, and Ranger all had their guns out and aimed at her. Of course, I didn't have my gun with me.

"Don't move, or I'll shoot her." Alice said, narrowing her eyes at me.

"There's four of us and one of you. Drop the gun." Lester told her.

"I'm outnumbered, that's true. But I have an advantage. Your little girlfriend and her lack of weaponry." She moved the gun so it was targeted at me.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, referring to the empty control room.

"Gone, but don't you worry yourself with that, Stephanie. You have enough to worry about." She winked at me, holding her gun even with my chest, even from twenty feet away.

Lester, who was next to me, swung his arm around and hit me to the ground. Time stopped as I fell. Two gunshots rang out. As I landed on the ground, the recognition of the gunshots burst through my head as someone fell beside me.

I looked next to me to see Lester, my Lester, my best friend Lester on the ground.

"Lester!" I shrieked.

He was his stomach. If he was hurt, I wouldn't have been able to see the wound, and I knew that I couldn't roll him over. I moved over to him and put my hand on the back of his head. Tears were flowing down my cheeks before I even noticed them building up. My breathing increased and my heart was pounding.

"Lester, are you okay?" I asked, my voice breaking.

"Closer," he whispered. He was breathing deeply and his body was shaking.

I leaned down so my ear was right next to his mouth.

"She missed me. Grab my gun," he said in my ear.

My heart soared with happiness. I squeezed his shoulder, took his gun from his hand, and stood.

For the first time, I saw where the second shot had went.

Alice's foot.

Her face was red from trying to hold her composure through the pain of the shot. She was standing on one foot and leaning against the wall now, keeping her wounded foot off the ground.

"I told you not to move!" She shrieked, the gun shaking slightly in her hand.

"You know what? I'm not afraid of you." I told her.

"You stupid bitch, you should be!" She moved the gun towards me and shot.

I expected to feel pain, the sudden impact of the bullet entering me.

All I felt was someone pushing me back.

I saw the wall move in front of me, then crumble to the ground. It took me a minute to realize that it was Ranger.

"Good job, you shot the man you claimed to be in love with." I told her, kneeling down to see Ranger.

"Shut up!"

It was down to Tank and I. He was the only one still standing, even though Lester was faking it.

"Where are you hit?" I asked Ranger, more tears flowing down my cheeks.

"I don't know," he responded, his eyes closed in pain. His jaw was locked. I looked down at his torso and legs, trying to see where he was hit. There was a small puddle of blood starting to collect around him.

"Ranger, don't you dare die." I told him, lifting his shirt to see his torso wasn't wounded. Surprisingly, Alice was allowing the investigation.

"I think your leg was hit. You'll be okay, no major organs were injured." I told him, standing up. He was lying on his back.

"What are you going to do? Kill us all? You'll get caught, it's all on camera."

"What else would I do? You have been sneaking around lately, all of you. Asking questions that shouldn't be asked. You should have left everything alone!"

"We should have left everything alone, _Alice?_ You really think so?" I asked smugly.

Her face turned pale.

"You-you know about that?"

"Alice, we know about everything."

"I hate you! You stupid bitch!" She shrieked at me aimed the gun again, but her hand was more shaky this time.

"If you shoot, I'll shoot." I told her, aiming my gun.

She raised her eyebrows at me and shot the gun away from me. I heard Tank groan as he fell to the ground, his shoulder clearly wounded.

"I'm going to kill everyone you care about," she told me, "Then, I'm going to kill you."

I shot my gun. The force and noise of the gun surprised me, and my already pounding heart sped up. My adrenaline rushed and I felt confident and strong as Alice crumbled to the ground, the bullet having entered her remaining leg.

I backed up slightly and kneeled down to Lester. "Get your phone, call the police, and make sure they hear this." I told him quietly. He nodded in understanding.

"What did you do to Brittany?" I asked her, walking towards her. She was sitting with her back against the wall, crying in agony.

"None of your fucking business!" She screamed at me.

I was close enough to aim easily at her. I lowered my gun to her head and moved my finger to the trigger.

"What did you do to Brittany?" I asked again.

Her hands were beside her body, she looked completely defeated. Her hand was loosing holding the gun. I kicked it out of her hand and across the room. She looked at me with defeated fury in her eyes.

"I killed her."

"Why? Why did you have to kill your sister and come here and pretend to be her?"

"I fucking hated her!" She screamed, tears streaming down her red face. Her hair was a mess, loose strands from her pony tail clinging to her wet face. Blood was pooling around her. "She was the perfect daughter, she did everything right! My parents loved her, and it was obvious. She got the best clothes and presents, and I got thoughtless useless gifts that even a beggar wouldn't want! She got good grades and had friends and everyone loved her! She was popular and got everything and everyone she wanted. She got into a good college and had a good career, while her love life was blooming. Then she fell in love with Carlos and everything was just fucking perfect for her."

"What about you?"

"Me? What about fucking me? I struggled in school and no one cared. I didn't have any friends or boyfriends, no one ever asked me out on dates or to the dances. I didn't get accepted to any good colleges, and my parents forced me to just work instead of going to more school. Then, when I did start to succeed, no one cared because Brittany was so fucking fabulous! My parents died and they left everything to Brittany. Then, she was starting to go down. She and Carlos broke up and she was laid off and she and I got into a fight. So I killed her. I was sick of living in her shadow."

"What about the Ann Klein hospital?"

"I pretended to be crazy so I wouldn't go to jail."

"What about the man who got you out?"

"He was just a ploy the entire time. I was playing him to get me out. So when he did, I got rid of him."

"What about me? What about what you've done here?"

"As soon as I met Carlos, I knew that I had to have him. That's why I came here. But you and him were together, so I broke you up with the pictures and money framing thing."

"What about the hundred thousand? He and I were already broken up."

"He was still in love with you, and he wasn't paying attention to me. I thought that if that much money went missing and then I happened to find the criminal who stole it, he would fall for me."

"Who were you going to frame it on?"

"Lester."

"You're a monster."

She glared at me, but didn't say anything. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for her, always living in the perfect sister's shadow, I could relate to that.

Suddenly I was on the ground. She had swung her leg through the pain and knocked me down. She came foreword and had a concentrated look on her face as she wrapped her hands around my neck.

"I'm going to kill you, and no one will ever know. They'll think we all attacked each other, and you were simply a victim."

Then, she squeezed.

My eyes locked with hers and I could see the fiery hatred in her eyes. Her face was red from the force she was exerting, and I couldn't breathe.

All of a sudden, there was a loud bang and the fire in her eyes dimmed. Her grip on my neck loosened, and she fell back against the wall, limp.

There was a bullet wound in her chest. I felt her wrist. She didn't have a pulse.

"She's dead." I announced to the room, and to myself.

I just killed Alice Peterson.

"Stephanie." Lester caught me as I tried to back away from Alice's body.

"That was self defense, right?"

"Yeah." The elevator rang and the control room was suddenly flooded with police officers and emergency response people from the hospital.

Ranger, Lester, Tank, and I were loaded on different ambulances and brought to the hospital in a blur. In the hospital, they ran a couple of tests before I finally realized what was going on.

I came out of my daze when I was wheeled into a room with four beds. Lester was laying in one of the beds with the television on.

"Your mother is going to be all over you after this one." He told me.

The nurse helped me into the bed next to Lester and I looked up at the television to see the news report on the entire incident.

"Why are there four beds in here?" I asked him.

"The people at the hospital learned that everyone at Rangeman usually likes to stick together, and if they don't put us together, we'll move things around ourselves."

"Where's-"

"Ranger and Tank are both in surgery."

"Oh." I rolled around to get comfortable.

A while later, a doctor walked into our room holding a clip board. It was still Lester and I in the room, Tank and Ranger were still not back.

"Ms. Plum, we've got some good news for you. You're perfectly fine, and the baby is fine, as well."

"Oh, great, thank-WAIT WHAT?!"

The doctor practically jumped back into the wall. "You-you're uh, pregnant. You weren't aware?"

"What was your first clue?!"

"You're about three weeks along."

I glared at him.

"I'm just going to go now…" The doctor trailed off, all but running out of the room.

"Lester. I'm pregnant." I looked at him, suddenly scared and nervous.

"It's not mine."

"Yeah, I know." I looked down at my body and held my stomach in my hands.


	15. I never want to have sex Ever again

Hey guys!! Just one or two more chapters!!

Well, I'll be honest. I was a little iffy about publishing a sequel, and I didn't think anyone would like it.

I also was worried that I wouldn't have a good story line, but look where we are now!

I love you all, all of your support and reviews over the passed few weeks!

Again, I love you!! Enjoy 15! I'm not sure when I'll have the last chapter. New semester and all D:

~kj

* * *

Hours later, the four of us were in the hospital room together. The doctors wanted to keep Lester and I overnight to assure we didn't experience any post-traumatic stress symptoms, and Ranger and Tank would be in the hospital for at least a week, due to their injuries.

It was late in the evening, we were expecting the police to stop by for our statements. Tank, Ranger, and Lester were on the other side of the room, playing cards and talking. I was sitting alone in my bed, trying to figure out what to do.

It was Ranger's baby. I was pregnant with Ranger's baby. No matter how many times I said it to myself, it sounded weird. It was too hard to believe, and I had no idea what I should do. One day he told me that he wanted a baby with me, but that was when we were together. Now that we weren't together, what would happen to the baby? What would happen to Ranger and I now that Alice was dead?

Would he even believe that it was his baby? He had asked for peace of mind last night when he asked if I was sleeping with Lester, and I had asked for peace of mind, asking why he broke it off with me. Neither of us had gotten our peace of mind.

I had to tell him. The man jumped in front of a bullet for me.

"Ranger?" I asked, having to call across the room.

He looked up at me, his eyes filled with life that I hadn't seen in awhile.

"Can we talk? Alone?"

He looked to Lester and Tank. Lester automatically jumped up and got Tank into a wheel chair, and wheeled him out of the room, closing the door behind him. I stood up and moved to sit at the end of Ranger's bed, careful of his injured leg.

"I think we need to talk about everything that's happened." I said quietly.

"I think you're right."

"Ever since Alice showed up, we were weird, and then we broke up…"

"Stephanie, I am so sorry. I really am. I wasn't thinking everything through."

"When you broke up with me?"

"Yes, everything. When I broke up with you…it's just that I knew what she was trying to do. I knew she was trying to trick me and get you out of the picture. I was worried that if she didn't think that her plan worked, she would hurt you to get to me. Especially after the pregnancy thing, I couldn't let you get hurt. You mean too much to me. I wasn't really thinking everything through when it all happened. I should have just set up a staged break up, instead of hurting you. I'm so sorry. I did the very thing I was trying to protect you from, and I'm so sorry."

I didn't say anything. I didn't really know what to say.

"Stephanie, I love you. I always have and I always will. I-I got you something a couple of days ago…"

I looked up at him.

"It's in my pants pocket. Over there." He nodded towards a chair at the end of his bed. I stood and walked to the chair. His pants were ripped and cut up, and there was a whole with dried blood from where he was shot.

There were eight pockets in the pants.

"What pocket?" I asked him.

"I don't remember."

I groaned and looked through every pocket of the pants until I found a velvet box in one of the pockets.

I pulled it out and went back to the end of Ranger's bed.

"Open it." He whispered.

I did. Inside was a silver ring with several diamonds. There were designs engraved in the band on the inside and outside. It was really quite exquisite.

"What do you say?"

"Ranger, you really hurt me." I told him. "I had no idea that you knew, I thought I was losing you to her. I thought that you had no clue, and I felt completely ridiculous. And I was furious. I had complete reason to be jealous, even though you claimed that I didn't."

It was his turn not to say anything.

"You jumped in front of a bullet for me, Ranger." I said lightly.

"I can protect you from everything else, even if I can't protect you from myself."

"You're willing to take me back, just like that?"

"Steph, it would be more like you taking me back…"

"But you're the one who actually had to ask whether or not I slept with Lester."

"I'm sorry. It's just that…Steph, I see you, and I've heard things that the guys have said about you. I figured that if I was out of your life, and you were suddenly with Lester all the time and living in his apartment…"

"What kind of girl do you take me for?"

"The kind of girl that everyone wants."

"Ranger, I didn't sleep with Lester. We're best friends, it's strictly platonic."

"You didn't need to say anything."

"I wanted to."

"What do you say?" He asked, putting his hand over mine.

"Ranger, I have to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I'm pregnant."

He completely froze. He couldn't have slapped his blank face on quickly enough. He looked terrified and shocked for a moment. His eyes were wide and I could hear the sharp intake of breath and the gulp.

My heart sank. This wasn't the response I was hoping for. True, I didn't know what to expect, but after the engagement ring, I couldn't help but feel the disappointment at his reaction. I was hoping that he would be happy, excited, ecstatic.

"That's great!" he finally said.

"Ranger, you don't need to lie."

"I'm not lying-"

"Ranger, I saw your face. You didn't exactly look happy when I just sprung that on you. You couldn't hide your disappointment or unhappiness or whatever in time."

"Stephanie, you surprised me. You didn't exactly look happy or excited when you opened the box, and you still haven't given me an answer."

"I just…I don't want you to feel like you have to marry me because of the baby, like with Rachel."

"Stephanie, I asked you to marry me before I knew about the baby."

"Yeah, I know, but-"

"How long have you known?"

"A few hours."

"You just found out today?"

"Yes."

"Stephanie, we've hit a rough patch. We can both admit it. But I love you, and if you still love me, we can work through it. When two people are in love, they can work through the bad to get back to the good. We don't have to get married, we can go back to where we've been the past year. It doesn't matter to me. I love you no matter how we're together."

"Ranger-"

"Just give me an answer. Do you want to give us another try?"

"I need to think about it." I told him, trying to keep a serious face.

In reality, I was ecstatic. My heart was pounding and I was about to do flips. It took all of my control not to smile and give him my answer. No matter what happened, he was Ranger, _my _Ranger. The man I had always loved, even when all we were was a quick kiss or brush. He was the man who saved me from my wedding and countless crazy people. He endangered his life to save mine. After all the years of him saying that he couldn't give me the burg, he was pretty much giving me the burg, but our own version. Our wedding wouldn't be like the others, our child wouldn't be like the others (especially with my genes), and our home wasn't like the others whatsoever. He was facing his greatest fear, just so he would have more to offer me, to show me that he was serious about wanting me back, and to assure me that nothing of the sort would ever happen again.

I could swear his eyes filled with tears.

"Ranger, oh my gosh, don't cry. My answer is yes."

He grinned and took the ring box from me. He slid the ring on my left ring finger and pulled me towards him. He kissed me deeply and I melted into him. His lips were soft, his face slightly rough. He smelled and tasted good, even after a hostage situation and a surgery.

The simple touch put all of my nerves and cells on edge. My body was suddenly out of my control. It had been too long, and I _wanted _him.

Apparently, he felt the same way. He groaned and pulled me onto him so I was straddling his lap. I moaned as he ran his hands along my back and sides.

"But," I pulled away, forcing a moan out of him, "You're going to be making it up to me for a very, very, very long time." I punctuated each "very" with a poke to his chest.

"Anything," he said, breathlessly.

"Great." I got off his lap and moved back to his side. He pulled me to him again and kissed me deeply.

"I'm going to let Lester and Tank back in." I told him.

"You know, just because my leg is injured-"

"Not in a hospital bed, Ranger!" I scolded.

He groaned and his head fell back onto the pillow.

I went to the door and opened it. Tank's head was resting in his hand, his elbow resting on the arm of his wheelchair. He looked bored beyond reason.

Then I saw why.

Lester was leaning against the reception desk with a dark haired curvy beauty leaning against him. They were completely absorbed in each other, their arms around each other, sucking each other's face off.

In surprise, I slammed the door and turned back to face Ranger.

"I never want to have sex. Ever again."


End file.
